Search is a central concept in the GNOME user experience. It provides quick navigation and shortcuts to recently used documents, places and software.

A search provider is used by an application to expose such data to the users via the GNOME Shell search screen. As for Web browsers currently only Gnome Web (Epiphany) have integrated this feature.

This long awaited feature finally arrives with the latest Firefox update in Fedora. Although there’s an upstream effort to ship it in Mozilla official builds, Mozilla builds are missing a generic way to install the GNOME Shell integration system. This explain why this specific feature has to be shipped by particular distributions.

Firefox search provider is launched when an active Firefox instance is running. It gets live data from user profile. An offline search provider was also considered but it’s not yet implemented right due to SQL database locks at Firefox profiles.

To get web search results on top of your search you may also need to activate Firefox in the search configuration. To do so go to Settings -> Search, find Firefox and move it on top of the list.

Now you can use the Gnome search facility to search the web.

Lumberyard 1.22 game engine was just released by Amazon.

Highlights of this release from the release notes:

The primary change in this release is the new asset dependency system defined in depth in this blog post.

Enter asset dependency tracking. Lumberyard’s new Asset Dependency Graph provides the means to determine the set of assets a given asset depends on. By recursively walking the entire dependency graph, the engine can easily determine the exact set of assets your game needs to run. So when it comes time to release your game, packaging your assets becomes a simple set of steps as opposed to a several days-to-weeks development effort.

Now that the engine can determine which assets your game needs, our next task was to build a tool that packages a game’s assets into one or more asset bundles (single files that contain many assets packed together). Further, we added the ability to create new asset bundles that contain only those assets that have been added, changed, or deleted since the last asset deployment. This allows a game developer to do incremental content releases with only those assets that have actually changed since the last time they were shipped. Your players won’t have to waste time and bandwidth downloading new content or re-downloading old content.

Finally, because Lumberyard provides source code and encourages developers to modify Lumberyard to fit their needs, we added multiple validation systems that will alert the developer if they have done something that interferes with Lumberyard’s ability to generate a correct asset dependency graph.

Lumberyard is free for developers so long as they self host or use Amazon services for their networking.  You can download Lumberyard here.

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At Microsoft Quantum, our ambition is to help solve some of the world’s most complex challenges through the world’s most scalable quantum system. Recently, we introduced Azure Quantum to unite a diverse and growing quantum community and accelerate the impact of this technology. Whether it’s algorithmic innovation that improves healthcare outcomes or breakthroughs in cryogenic engineering that enable more sustainable systems design, these recent advancements across the stack are bringing the promise of quantum to our world, right now.

In December 2018, the United States Congress signed the National Quantum Initiative Act – an important milestone for investing the resources needed to continue advancing the field. As recognized by the Act, education on quantum information science and engineering needs to be an area of explicit focus, as the shortage of quantum computing talent worldwide poses a significant challenge to accelerating innovation and fully realizing the impact quantum can have on our world.

Leaders across both public and private sectors need to continue working together to develop a global workforce of quantum engineers, researchers, computer and materials scientists, and other industry experts who will be able to carry quantum computing into the future. Microsoft has been collaborating with academic institutions and industrial entities around the world to grow this quantum generation and prepare the workforce for this next technological revolution.

Empowering the quantum generation through education

Earlier this year, Microsoft partnered with the University of Washington to teach an introductory course on quantum computing and programming. The course, led by Dr. Krysta Svore, General Manager of Microsoft Quantum Systems, focused on the practical implementation of quantum algorithms.

Students were first introduced to quantum programming with Q# through a series of coding exercises followed by programming assignments. For their final project, student teams developed quantum solutions for specified problems – everything from entanglement games and key distribution protocols to quantum chemistry and a Bitcoin mining algorithm. Several students from this undergraduate course joined the Microsoft Quantum team for a summer internship, further developing their new skillsets and delivering quantum impact to organizations around the world.

On the heels of this hands-on teaching engagement, Microsoft has established curriculum partnerships with more than 10 institutions around the world to continue closing the skills gap in quantum development and quantum algorithm design. This curriculum is circling the globe, from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Roorkee and Hyderabad, India.

Partner universities leverage Q#, Microsoft’s quantum programming language and associated Quantum Development Kit, to teach the principles of quantum computing to the next generation of computer engineers and scientists.

“The course material extended to us by Microsoft is concise and challenging. It covers the necessary mathematical foundations of Quantum Computing. Simulation on Q# is quite straightforward and easy to interpret. Collaboration with Microsoft has indeed captivated students of IIT Roorkee to get deeper insights into Quantum Technology.”

– Professor Ajay Wasan of IIT Roorkee, Department of Physics

Q# integrates with familiar tools like Visual Studio and Python, making it a very approachable entry point for undergraduate and graduate students alike.

 “I integrated Microsoft’s Q# into my UCLA graduate course called Quantum Programming.  My students found many aspects of Q# easy to learn and used the language to program and run four quantum algorithms. Thus, the curriculum partnership with Microsoft [has] helped me teach quantum computing to computer science students successfully.”

– Professor Jens Palsberg of UCLA, Computer Science Department

Microsoft has also partnered with Brilliant to bring quantum computing to students and professionals around the world via a self-serve e-learning environment.

This interactive Quantum Computing course introduces students to quantum principles and uses Q# to help people learn to build quantum algorithms, simulating a quantum environment in their browsers. In the last six months, more than 40,000 people have interacted with the course and started building their own quantum solutions.

Accelerating quantum innovation through cross-industry collaboration

Recently, Microsoft enrolled into the Quantum Economic Development Consortium (QED-C), which aims to enable and grow the United States quantum industry.

QED-C was established with support from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as part of the federal strategy for advancing quantum information science. Through the QED-C, Microsoft partners with a diverse set of business and academic leaders to identify and address gaps in technology, standards, and workforce readiness facing the quantum industry.

We look forward to continuing our academic and cross-industry collaborations in developing a quantum workforce to tackle real-world scenarios and bring this revolutionary technology to fruition.

Request to be an early adopter of Azure Quantum and incorporate Q# and the QDK in your quantum curriculum.

Are you currently a student interested in joining Microsoft Quantum as an intern? Apply to our open research intern positions today!

Other ways to get involved:

Learning resources:

Trials of Mana – a remake of the legendary Super Famicom RPG Seiken Densetsu 3 – is due to hit Switch early next year, and a fresh character trailer has just been released to build up a bit of hype during the festive period.

As the first ‘Character Spotlight Trailer’, this new footage gives us a glimpse of the game’s two main heroes: the swordsman Duran from the Kingdom of Valsena and Princess Angela from Altena. A key feature of the game is the ability to play as multiple characters and experience different storylines, and this trailer does a good job of showing off how Square Enix has fleshed out the characters for this updated version.

If you’re keen for more, then you’ll be pleased to learn that this is the first of a series of spotlights on the cast of the game. The four other playable heroes – Hawkeye, Riesz, Kevin and Charlotte – will be getting their own trailers soon.

Trials of Mana launches on April 24th, 2020.

The BuildBox game engine is now available in a free version.  Previously a rather expensive proposition, BuildBox Free enables a much larger portion of the developer community to access this no-code required game engine. 

Details of the BuildBox Free release from the BuildBox website:

What is Buildbox Free?

For the first time ever, we’re releasing a completely free version of our no-code software on December 18th. We’re calling it, Buildbox Free and with it, you can create professional 2D and 3D games without writing a single line of code. Our software features unique creation layers, which makes developing games extremely easy and lightning-fast. As shown in the video above, there are many different creation layers you can choose from when you’re making games with Buildbox.

Smart Assets

The first creation layer option is smart assets. They’re predefined asset templates with pre-canned animations and logic built-in to make building out your games super fast and straightforward. Just browse the Buildbox Asset Library, which is located right inside of the software, and choose a smart asset to start creating. Smart assets let you add popular gameplay mechanics instantly to your game with one-click.

Brainboxes

One of our newest features and the second creation layer in Buildbox is brainboxes. Brainboxes help take your 3D game development to a whole new level. They work much like components did in Buildbox 2, but provide more control over a 3D model. With brainboxes, you can add ‘brains’ to any character or object in your game to give them a specific action or behavior. Choose a brainbox to make a car drive or make your character walk.

Nodes

For even more control, you can also use the third creation layer, nodes. Buildbox has an advanced node system with ‘smart nodes’ that are easy to use. They add a deeper level of complexity to your game by allowing you to easily create logic for any character or object in your game. However, you’re not limited to the nodes available in Buildbox. We went even further and added another layer of creation for our advanced developers.

Low-Code

This fourth creation layer is the low-code option. All nodes are based in JavaScript, making it easy in Buildbox to build your own nodes to use for your games from scratch. They can also be easily shared with the community or even sold in our upcoming asset store.

2D & 3D World Creation

We’ve also vastly improved the software making the user interface more user-friendly with mini-tutorials and easy navigation options. There’s also been over 100 fixes and tweaks to make your game development experience better. We’ve added many new creation layers and features including designated 2D worlds, and a fly mode for moving around 3D worlds effortlessly.

An obvious question at this point is, what are the limitations of the BuildBox Free vs the Pro edition.  This was answered in an earlier blog post:

Buildbox Free is a lighter version of the Pro plan. This means there are some limitations. With Buildbox Free, you’ll be able to integrate only two popular Ad Networks: AdMob and IronSource, with a 10% or less cut taken from each. There is a one-world limitation. Plus, your game’s splash screens will feature the BB logo, which cannot be removed. Also, export is limited to only iOS and Android.

BuildBox free should be available for download now right here.  Learn more about BuildBox Free in the video below and stay tuned for a more in-depth hands-on feature on BuildBox in the near future.

EDIT – They have released the following blog post now that the countdown is over.  The form to get a download link and product key is available here.  A warning, they seem to be suffering heavily under demand (not to mention a janky signup process).

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By Joe Robinson 19 Dec 2019

By Malcolm Owen
Thursday, December 19, 2019, 01:14 pm PT (04:14 pm ET)

The iPhone complies with U.S. standards for RF exposure, the FCC has confirmed after performing a battery of tests on the smartphone. Regulators promised to evaluate Apple’s handset following an August report by the Chicago Tribune claiming that the model breaches consumer safety rules.

A cellphone tower collection.

In August, it was claimed by independent testing conducted by the Chicago Tribune that there was an issue with the iPhone 7 and iPhone 8, with regards to radio frequency broadcasts. Performed by the RF Exposure Lab, the tests showed iPhone 7 exceeded the amount of exposure the FCC permits devices to expose to a user, by a considerable margin.

The retest, conducted by the FCC, included a mix of devices supplied by Apple and Samsung, as well as others purchased by the FCC. Testing was performed between Aug. 30 and Sept. 23.

All of the devices tested at the FCC’s own lab — not a contractor — were under the maximum legal limit of 1.6 watts per kilogram or less, over 1 gram of tissue that is absorbing the most signal. The legal limit is derived from a safe limit, which is about 50 times higher.

Test results, via the FCC

The previous testing commissioned by the newspaper measured levels between 2.5 watts per kilogram and 2.81 watts per kilogram, far above the legal limit for exposure.

At the time of the original test, Apple took issue with the results and in a statement said the results “were inaccurate due to the test setup not being in accordance with procedures necessary to properly assess the iPhone models.” Apple added that “all models are fully certified by the FCC and counterparts in other countries where iPhones are sold, with Apple further proclaiming “we are in compliance and meet all applicable exposure guidelines and limits.”

Organizations that embrace technology intensity are inherently more successful. What exactly is technology intensity, and why is it critical for today’s enterprises to build a cohesive digital strategy?

Technology intensity defined

Technology intensity has three components:

1. Rapid adoption of hyper-scale cloud platforms
2. A rational business decision to invest in digital capabilities
3. Relentless focus on building technology that customers can trust—relying on credible suppliers and building security into new products.

As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella notes, “We must adopt technology in ways that are much faster than what we have done in the past. Each one of us, in our organizations, will have to build our own digital capability on top of the technology we have adopted. Tech intensity is one of the key considerations you have to get right.”

Technology intensity as a critical enabler

Simply put, technology intensity is a critical part of business strategy today. I meet regularly with leaders from companies around the world. In my experience, high-performance companies invest the most in digital capabilities and skillsets. In fact, there is a productivity gap between these top performers and their lesser performing counterparts that directly correlates with the scale of digital investments. 

Other research shows that technology spending into hiring developers and creating innovative software that is owned and used exclusively by a company is a key competitive advantage. These companies cultivate the ability to develop their own “digital IP,” building exclusive software and tools that only their customers have access to. Resources are always scarce, and these companies build differentiated IP on top of existing best-in-class technology platforms. 

By putting customers at the center of the OEM supply chain, a report from the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) sponsored by Microsoft, Lorenzo Fornaroli, Senior Director of Global Logistics and Supply Chain at China-based ICT Huawei Technologies, highlights an advantage of embracing technology intensity: “…as an ICT company, we have the internal resources needed to identify new technologies early and deploy them effectively. Skills and experience with these technologies are readily available in-house.”

New business models

Manufacturers are increasingly using technology intensity principles to extend their supply chain well past the point of delivery. They are creating smart, connected products and digitizing their businesses with Azure IoT, Microsoft AI, Azure Blockchain Service, Dynamics 365, and Microsoft 365.

Rolls-Royce, for example, takes a monthly fee from customers of its jet engines that is based on flying hours. Sellers of industrial machinery such as Sandvik Coromant and Tetrapak are exploring the concept of charging customers for parts machined and containers filled.

Using the data that connected products transmit back about their condition and usage, manufacturers build new digital services. For these forward-thinking manufacturers, the extended supply chain is an opportunity to move away from selling products to customers based on a one-off, upfront purchase price, and to charge for subscriptions based on performance guarantees. This is “technology intensity in action”, as manufacturers become digital software companies.

Technology intensity in action

Bühler is a global market leader in die casting technology and has adopted technology intensity for connected products. Looking to continue driving innovation in the die casting process, Bühler aggregated data from different die casting cell components together under a single cell-management system. Bühler can now monitor, control, and manage a complete die casting cell in a unified, easy-to-use system. The company is also exploring additional avenues for digital transformation including real-time fleet learning by fine-tuning its Artificial Intelligence (AI) models to generate new insights.

Lexmark, a manufacturer of laser printers and imaging products, now offers Lexmark Cloud Print Infrastructure as a Service (CPI). Customers no longer manage onsite print infrastructure. Instead, Lexmark installs its own IoT-enabled devices and activates smart services, creating an always-on print environment. To roll out CPI, Lexmark worked with Microsoft to quickly adopt new Internet of Things (IoT), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), AI and collaboration tools to successfully grow their internal digital capabilities.

Colfax is another great example of a manufacturer embracing technology intensity. A global industrial technology company, Colfax, recognized the need to adopt industrial IoT technologies and the importance of embracing a comprehensive digital transformation initiative to expand the offerings of two of its business platforms—ESAB, a welding and cutting solutions provider, and Howden, an air and gas handling engineering company. Working with Microsoft and PTC, the company adopted advanced cloud technologies while building up a digital skillset. 

Investing in new digital skillsets

Savvy manufacturers harness data from connected products and combine this with data from many other sources, in unprecedented volumes. The copious amounts of data require mindset shifts, requiring organizations to build skills for a new digital era. Most manufacturers concur that they need to expand their internal capabilities in this manner.

“Senior supply-chain professionals have typically been accustomed to working with a fairly limited set of data to drive their decisions—but that’s all changed now,” says Daniel Helmig, group head of quality and operations at Swiss-Swedish industrial group ABB in the EIU report putting customers at the center of the OEM supply chain. He continues, “but being able to take advantage of the huge volumes of data available to us— and these are growing every day—demands a mind shift among supply-chain professionals, based on using new levels of visibility to respond to issues quickly and decisively.”

From the same report, Sheri Henck, vice-president of global supply chain, distribution, and logistics at Medtronic, a US-based manufacturer of medical equipment and devices, commented “In the past, a great deal of supply-chain decision-making was based on intuition, because data wasn’t available. Today, there is plenty of data available, but there’s also a recognition that skills and competencies for supply-chain leaders and their teams need to change if we are to make the most of data and use it to make data-driven recommendations and decisions.”

Explore how to optimize your digital operations with business solutions for intelligent factories with the e-book, “Factory of the future: Achieving digital excellence in manufacturing today“.

Several gamers were invited to experience the Bedrock-based version of Minecraft with RTX on.

Check out this video from NVIDIA showing off some of the builds these gamers produced, using the power of RTX.