Review

By Andrew O’Hara
Saturday, October 26, 2019, 09:00 am PT (12:00 pm ET)

If you want to not only protect your AirPods but to also transform them into a quirky 1984 Macintosh, then the Elago AW3 is your new best friend.

Elago AW3 AirPods case

Just launched, the AW3 is the latest in the accessory-makers lineup of retro Apple designs. The company made headlines a couple of years ago for its line of Mac-inspired Apple Watch chargers that turned the watches display into the screen on a vintage Mac.

Now it’s graduated from Apple Watches and moved on to AirPods.

Elago AW3 AirPods case has easy access to charging port

Cases for AirPods are a bit of a thing at the moment, with new ones seemingly launching each week, but all of the cases we’ve run across are generally different variations of the same design. Kudos to Elago for doing something a bit different.

Elago AW3 AirPods case comes in two pieces

Made from very soft silicone, the AW3 case slides onto your AirPods — first or second-generation — with ease. It is compromised of two separate components, consisting of a top section as a lid for the AirPods charging case and one for the body. The silicone adds a bit of grip, as well as some drop protection.

The front and back of the case are very thin, allowing the pairing button the back to be pressed without removing it, and for the status light on the front to shine through.

Those worried about having to take the extra case off to recharge using wireless charging can rest easy, because it still supports wireless charging while still applied. The silicone actually aids in wireless charging by preventing the AirPods case from sliding around on the charging pad.

Elago AW3 AirPods case

There is something charming about the retro beige design with the iconic script “hello” emblazoned on the front. It is taking one of Apple’s newest and most iconic product designs — the AirPods — and meshing it with the equally iconic 1984 iMac.

All that, coupled with the relatively low price tag, we are sure many people will take to the unique Elago AW3 case.

Pros

• Quirky design
• Protective silicone
• Status light and button still function

Cons

• Top can easily come off
• Must like the retro design

Rating: 4 out of 5

Where to buy

You can pick up the Elago AW3 silicone AirPods case on Amazon for $13.

In healthcare and life sciences, advances in research and technology development are providing a deeper understanding of human health and leading to more effective ways to prevent and treat disease. At the same time, the shifting landscape of the business of healthcare, including changes in policy and new business models, has created disruption and uncertainty for health providers, insurers, and, most of all, for patients.

At the heart of both this promise and this uncertainty is data. Twenty years ago, much less than 20 percent of healthcare records existed in digital form. Today, that number stands at better than 98 percent – a remarkable digitization of an entire industry. This massive shift to digital creates an opportunity to use cloud computing, AI, and a host of other advanced digital technologies to usher in a new era of profound and powerful insights about human health. But to realize this opportunity, we need to make all that data usable.

It’s relatively easy to find interesting datasets that may contain important insights for human health. People and organizations engage with us every day to explore promising ideas about how to turn their datasets into better outcomes, better experiences, and lower costs. The potential is pretty amazing, but converting these opportunities into action is surprisingly difficult and time-consuming. There are still many barriers that must be overcome before the impact of AI can be made real, including information systems that are difficult to manage, incompatible data standards, inconsistent privacy regulations, and conflicting commercial incentives.

One of our most important commitments is to work with partners from across the healthcare industry and in governments to eliminate these barriers and make it much easier for healthcare innovators everywhere to be successful. The good news is that real progress is being made. Today, I am excited to provide an update on some of the work Microsoft is involved in that is helping to make that progress possible.

Partnerships

One thing that’s clear to all of us is that healthcare is so complex, and the issues so broad, that the best way to move forward is through partnerships with people and organizations that have deep expertise in every aspect of healthcare research, analysis, and delivery.

One example is our relationship with the Walgreens Boots Alliance, the largest retail pharmacy, health and daily living destination across the United States and Europe. With more than 75 percent of the U.S. population now living within five miles of a Walgreens, there is an important opportunity to extend care to where it is most convenient. One way we’re doing this is by working together to develop cloud AI platforms to integrate information across healthcare providers, pharmacies, and payers in ways that create personalized, community-based care networks. Central to our partnership is a focus on connecting people to healthcare services through their digital devices to support preventative self-care and reduce emergency room visits.

In July, we launched a new partnership with one of the largest health systems in the United States, Providence. We’re accelerating the adoption of data-driven clinical and operational decision-making by developing new tools and solutions that use Azure and the FHIR interoperability standard to integrate disconnected data sources. Building on this foundation, we’re working together to create a flagship “clinic of the future” in the Seattle area. We’re also bringing Microsoft’s strength in AI together with Providence’s clinical expertise and data to develop natural language processing tools to assist in cancer care.

For the past two years, we have been working intensively with our partners at Adaptive Biotechnologies on a major effort to decode the human immune system by coupling Adaptive’s advanced immune system sequencing technology with our large-scale machine learning capabilities to develop a map of T-cell receptor repertoires to disease states. While this is something close to a “moonshot” effort, we are increasingly convinced that real diagnostic and therapeutic results are possible in the near term. As part of this, it has been exciting to see Adaptive’s business success follow the trajectory of our joint science and technology success.

Earlier this month, we announced a groundbreaking alliance that will combine Microsoft’s advanced AI technology and the deep life sciences expertise of Novartis to address the challenges that make it so costly and time-consuming to develop new treatments. One of the most important goals of this multi-year alliance is to empower Novartis associates at every level of the organization to wrangle and share important datasets and then use AI to analyze information, and speed the discovery of new treatments, even if they aren’t data scientists by training.

Just recently, we’ve shared news of two more major partnerships. The first, with Nuance Communications, will see our two companies work together to transform the exam room by deploying ambient clinical intelligence solutions that capture, with patient consent, interactions between clinicians and patients so that clinical documentation writes itself. The goal is to empower caregivers to focus more on patients by dramatically reducing the burden of documenting doctor-patient visits.

The second is a seven-year partnership with Humana to use data and AI to enable a more holistic, value-based approach to healthcare delivery. Together we will create predictive solutions and intelligent automation to support more personalized care and help patients follow treatment plans and medication schedules. With a more longitudinal view of a person’s health, including the use of intelligent home health solutions that use voice technologies, we hope that Humana will better address factors that influence health outcomes.

Products

Working together with researchers and industry partners, we’re also moving forward to create a broad range of cloud-based tools and solutions that touch many aspects of the development and delivery of effective care.

As part of our ongoing commitment to making health data more easily accessible, we just announced the general availability of the Azure API for FHIR. FHIR is quickly becoming the preferred standard for exchanging electronic health information and enabling the management of PHI data in the cloud. A rapidly growing number of healthcare delivery and healthcare technology companies are already using the Azure API for FHIR to improve interoperability within their own IT systems, including Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) of the NHS, Darena Solutions, Northwell Health, and Humana. With the release of the Azure API for FHIR, Microsoft is the first cloud with a fully-managed, enterprise-grade service for health data in the FHIR format.

Earlier this month, we released Cromwell on Azure, an open-source project on GitHub from Microsoft Genomics that provides scientific workflow management for genetic analysis. There is so much promising genomics-powered research underway right now, including the work St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Seattle Children’s Hospital are doing with the Microsoft Genomics service to gain a better understanding of pediatric cancers and how genetic variations contribute to infant mortality. It is extremely gratifying to have the opportunity to support these important initiatives.

And earlier this year, building on the Microsoft Healthcare Bot Service, we announced a new technology to help patients learn about clinical drug trials and enable researchers to find people to participate in clinical trials. It was an honor to have our clinical trials work included in the U.S. White House Presidential Innovation Fellows program.

People

Improving healthcare also demands a great team that understands the challenges that the healthcare industry faces and brings the right combination of expertise, passion, and insight. Over the last six months, we’ve added a number of the industry’s most talented and dedicated leaders to Microsoft’s healthcare leadership team, beginning with Dr. Gregory Moore, who joined Microsoft last spring as Corporate Vice President, Health Technology and Alliances. A neuroradiologist, researcher, engineer, and former Geisinger Health clinician, he is leading our research and development partnerships that focus on next-generation healthcare technologies and experiences.

This summer we were fortunate to recruit Dr. David Rhew to serve as Microsoft’s Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Healthcare. David came to Microsoft from Samsung where he led the company’s healthcare initiatives. An adjunct professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine, David is a computer scientist who holds six U.S. patents related to healthcare technology and he was recently named one of Modern Healthcare’s 50 most influential clinical executives.

I’m very excited to welcome the newest member of our leadership team, Lisa Maki, who joined the company two weeks ago. As General Manager of Health Alliance Formation, she’ll play a central role in identifying new opportunities for strategic partnerships. Lisa is a highly respected technologist and entrepreneur. The startups she has founded have been unique in harnessing deep knowledge of the mechanics of data and data connections in the healthcare industry, making them remarkably impactful and successful. Most recently, Lisa co-founded and was CEO of PokitDok, a platform for healthcare interoperability including DokChain, one of the first blockchains for healthcare. PokitDok was recently acquired by Change Healthcare.

These leaders join an experienced team of healthcare and technology leaders that includes Heather Cartwright, Vikram Dendi, Jean Gabarra, Dr. Joshua Mandel, Ben Shobert, Desney Tan, Dr. Jim Weinstein, and others.

Looking ahead to the future

As exciting as the past few months have been, I know we’ve really only taken the first few steps to address the challenges in healthcare that we have long dreamed about solving. I believe the work that we are doing now with great people and fantastic partners from across the industry will open the door to new ways to understand human health that we are only beginning to imagine.

In that spirit, I look forward to sharing more news with you in the very near future as we continue to push the boundaries of what technology can do to improve health outcomes for people around the world. At the HLTH conference next week, we’ll share news of another exciting partnership and, hopefully, have a chance to connect with many of you.

Luigi’s green doppelgänger Gooigi was first introduced to us last year in the Luigi’s Mansion remake for Nintendo 3DS.

Since then, this new character’s history has been fleshed out in Professor E. Gadd’s research journals. He’ll also be returning in the upcoming Switch release Luigi’s Mansion 3 next week.

If you’ve grown as fond of this green and gooey blob as we have over the past year, and are tired of wearing the same old costume every Halloween, then this Gooigi mask on the Play Nintendo website might be for you. Above is the mask itself and below is the description:

What happens when you convert Luigi’s biological data into an electrical signal, then input it into a gooey element? You get Gooigi, an exceedingly green copy of Luigi who can help solve puzzles and fight ghosts in the Luigi’s Mansion 3 game. You can make your own Gooigi mask with this printable craft!

All you have to do is download and print the file available from the Play Nintendo website. To assemble this mask, you’ll need some sturdy paper, ribbon or string, tape or glue (optional), a hole punch (optional) and scissors.

Will you be dressing up as Gooigi this Halloween? Leave a comment below.

This week, Obsidian Entertainment’s anticipated action RPG The Outer Worlds launched on every modern platform but the Switch. So, what’s happened to the Nintendo release?

According to a new press release from the game’s publisher Private Division, the hybrid version of the game will be arriving in 2020. Yep, so next year…

GamesRadar speculates it could take up to five additional months to bring the game to the Switch, based on the time it took Virtuos to port Dark Souls: Remastered across to the platform. If this was the case, Switch owners could expect it by around March next year.

The fiscal year for Take-Two (Private Division’s parent company) also ends in March 2020, which could be another reason to make it available then.

Were you hoping to get your hands on the Switch version of The Outer Worlds before the end of this year? Are you happy to wait until 2020? Tell us below.

The Outer Worlds, the latest game from renowned RPG developer (and recent addition to the Xbox family) Obsidian Entertainment, has been one of our most highly anticipated games of 2019, so we’re excited to share that it is now available for Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. You can download the game on its own in the Microsoft Store or via Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC. The Outer Worlds is a single-player RPG that combines a darkly funny narrative with deep RPG elements and exciting combat to bring a new and unique universe to life.

We’ve taken a look at The Outer Worlds a couple of times here on Xbox Wire. I encourage you to check out our E3 preview and in-depth hands-on feature for details, but here’s the gist: You play as a galactic colonist who is awoken from a decades-long cryosleep after your ship was lost in space. You’ll spend your time gallivanting around the universe, making a name (good, bad, or somewhere in between) for yourself on a variety of unique, vibrant planets on which you’ll meet a bevy of memorable characters.

The choices you make in The Outer Worlds truly affects the way the game plays out, and you’ll be forced to make some tough ones as you navigate your way through this strange new universe. Sometimes, you’ll be able to talk your way through tough situations. Other times, you can sneak in and out of them. Or, if you’re not the sneaking or speaking type, you’ll be able to use one of the game’s many unique weapons to get your way.

The Outer Worlds is an exciting new entry in one of our favorite genres and we think RPG fans are going to love it. It’s available now physically and digitally for Xbox One and available for download on Windows 10 PC in the Microsoft Store. If you’ve got Xbox Game Pass for Console and PC (or are ready to subscribe), The Outer Worlds is available for download now!

Normal service resumes again today, and there’s a lot to catch up on. Still kind of bummed there wasn’t much more to write about from PDXCon regarding mobile. The Stellaris spin-off was definitely a point of conversation but other than saying “we messed up,” there wasn’t much more for them to say.

Meanwhile, in mobile gaming…

Out Now

This is going to be a bit of a disjointed section this today because there’s quite a few things to catch up on from the past couple of weeks.

First thing’s first, y’all saw Bad North last week, right? Our review is in-progress and coming as fast as we can, but I’ve been playing it on Android and it’s pretty legit. It’s a minimalist game so you may not be able to play it for long periods of time, and the controls are a tiny bit fiddly, but it’s still pretty good.

Add to that is the fact that Rome: Total War – Alexander is now available on iPhone (making the game iOS Universal), as well as Android devices. This is the last of the Rome: Total War releases to complete their mobile journey. You can read our Rome: Total War Alexander review here, otherwise, what are you waiting for?

Go here for device requirements.

It also seems 7 Wonders: Duel released onto both iOS and Android this week, to absolutely zero fanfare (hats off to the Stately Play community for the tip). It distils the typical 7 Wonders gameplay into a more competitive one-on-one mode. We’ll try and get on this as soon as we can, but it might have to wait a week or two.

As for other releases this week, there have been a few things that have caught our eye, but nothing we’ve actually played yet:

• Cursed Castilla (iOS) is a classic console arcade game that’s been ported to iOS, complete with a baked in Arcade UI.
• The Swords of Ditto (iOS & Android) is a “compact” action-RPG from Devolver that people have been saying positive things about.
• Undead Horde (iOS) seems like one of those games that’s high-concept/but low budget. You are a necromancer who must raise zombie armies to conquer a fantasy Kingdom. Bills itself as a ‘simulation’.

Updates & Future Releases

There are a couple of things to put into this section as well this week, let’s run through the big ones:

Pacific Fire, which we reviewed this week, has been updated recently. I’d tell you when, but I’ve never been able to figure out the date for these things on the Google Play store and since it’s Android only, I’m stuck.

Dota Underlords has received another big update this week, which adds in a few things like Duo Mode, a new ‘Insects’ pieces type and the Underlords themselves. The Trese Brothers are also up to their usual tricks, with a new Star Traders: Frontiers update that adds new talents, new content and tweaks a variety of things.

Black Desert Mobile’s full release isn’t until December, but if you’re an Android user in Canada, Chile, Sweden, Malaysia, Turkey, Ireland or Australia, then you’re in luck! The popular MMO’s mobile port has just been soft-launched in these countries, so you can jump in right now and check it out. Not sure if the same will happen on iOS or not.

EVE Echoes – the latest EVE Online mobile spin-off seems to actually be happening (unlike War of Ascension which we were expecting last year before it disappeared), will have an Open Beta in December this year, and there’s a playable build at CCP’s FanFest Vegas event this weekend. I’ve got one of our freelancers in situ taking a look, so I’m hoping to bring back some impressions of what it’s going to be like. In the meantime, enjoy this gameplay trailer:

Sales

Got a couple of sales for you this week that are worth checking out:

Seen anything else you liked, played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!