Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-08-2018, 08:32 AM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
4 innovations that are revolutionizing the Internet of Things
The Internet of Things (IoT) is reshaping every industry from manufacturing to medicine, and opportunities to transform business are nearly limitless. And while IoT is a complicated endeavor requiring multiple partners, skillsets, and technologies, new innovations are making projects easier to deploy, more secure, and more intelligent than ever.
Below I’ve called out four innovations that are revolutionizing the IoT industry. To learn more about how to take advantage of these innovations, be sure to register for our upcoming IoT in Action Virtual Bootcamp.
1. Artificial intelligence (AI) and cognitive capabilities
Cognitive services and AI used to come with a high price tag. But times have changed, and these capabilities are becoming increasingly accessible.
IoT Hub and Cognitive Services enable you to tailor IoT solutions with advanced intelligence without a team of data scientists. Not only do AI and Cognitive Services make it easier to infuse IoT solutions with capabilities such as image recognition, speech analytics, and intelligent recommendations, but they also help companies act on the data being gathered and realize the true value of IoT. Scenarios are virtually limitless. Companies like UBER are using visual identity verification to increase platform security, and Spektacom is making cricket better with its AI-infused sticker for cricket bats that can deliver insights around batting style.
2. Real-time analytics at the intelligent edge
You need data analytics to make your IoT solution complete, but all the data you need is not where you want it to be—it’s at the edge. One solution is to reproduce a cloud environment locally, but this can be costly and you may end up having to support two solutions, not one.
Now you can extend cloud intelligence and analytics to the edge. Azure IoT Edge optimizes performance between the edge and cloud, reducing latency, so you get real-time data. This secure solution enables edge devices to operate reliably even when they have intermittent cloud connectivity, while also ensuring that only the data you need gets sent to the cloud. And by combining data from the cloud and data from the edge, you get the best of both worlds.
3. More secure IoT devices
IoT security continues to evolve. Which means it’s never been easier to lock down your IoT solutions. At Microsoft, we continue to build uncompromising security into every product we make. We recently released Azure Sphere, which is an end-to-end solution for creating highly-secure, connected devices using a new class of microcontrollers (MCUs). Azure Sphere powers edge devices, combining three key components including Azure Sphere certified MCUs, Azure Sphere OS, and the Azure Sphere Security Service.
4. Provisioning IoT quickly at scale
Provisioning IoT manually is time-intensive and can quickly become a showstopper, especially when you’ve got hundreds, thousands, or even millions of devices to configure. Even if manual provisioning is possible now, building in the capability to quickly and securely provision future devices is critical.
Azure IoT Hub features a Device Provisioning Service (DPS) that enables remote provisioning without human intervention. Azure DPS provides the infrastructure needed to provision millions of devices in a secure and scalable way. DPS extends trust from the silicon to the cloud where it creates registries to enable managed identity services including location, mapping, aging, and retirement. It works in a variety of scenarios from automatic configuration based on solution-specific needs to load balancing across multiple hubs to connecting devices based on geo-location.
Register for the IoT in Action Virtual Bootcamp
To learn more about how you can take advantage of these innovations, be sure to register for an IoT in Action Virtual Bootcamp. Whether you are an engineer, software architect, or practice owner, this virtual bootcamp will give you a clear understanding of IoT from device to cloud and accelerate the development of an IoT solution for your business.
This event will help you get hands on with the latest in IoT devices and cloud services including secure MCUs, IoT OSes, and advanced application services. You will also receive trusted guidance and a singular ecosystem view, supporting you in the design of secure IoT solutions that add real-world business value and create exciting new customer experiences. Join us to establish a leadership position in the IoT ecosystem by creating new experiences and revenue streams while optimizing bottom-line performance.
Register for an IoT in Action Virtual Bootcamp in your time zone:
Interested in attending one of our in-person IoT in Action event? Register for a free event coming to a city near you.
Rage 2 Release Date Confirmed With New Trailer At The Game Awards
Rage 2, the long-awaited sequel from Id Software and Avalanche, finally has a release date. At The Game Awards 2018, publisher Bethesda officially confirmed that the single-player post-apocalyptic shooter is launching on May 14 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Bethesda also released a new trailer for the game showing off some of the crazy things you'll be able to do in the open-world. Check it out in the embed above.
The game is set 30 years after the events of the first Rage, which was released in 2011 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The Earth has started to recover after being ravaged by a global catastrophe, and plant and animal life have begun springing up around the planet.
Rage 2 is in development at Just Cause studio Avalanche Studios, while original developer id Software is also contributing to the project.
For more on all the big announcements from The Game Awards, check out GameSpot's roundup here.
Create a Fully Automated Light and Music Show for the Holidays: Part 1
This tutorial series from our archives explains how to build a fully automated holiday display with Raspberry Pi.
Christmas has been one of my favorite festivals, and this year it’s special because I’m planning a massive project to decorate my house using open source projects. There will be WiFi-controlled lights and a music show, there will be a talking moose singing Christmas carols (powered by Raspberry Pi, Arduino, and some servo motors), there will be a magical musical Christmas tree, and much more.
I built a music-light show for Halloween, but I improved it and added more features as I worked on the Christmas project. In this series, I’ll provide comprehensive instructions to build a fully automated Christmas music/light show that turns on automatically at a given time or that you can plug and play.
Caveat: This project involves working with 110v A/C, so take on this project only if you have experience with high voltage and understand the necessary safety precautions.
I spent weeks finding just the right parts below to create my setup. You can use your own creativity when selecting that parts that you need.
We need to install an operating system on our Pi, and we will be using Raspbian. First, let’s prepare the Micro SD card for Raspbian. Plug in the card into your PC and open the Terminal; we are going to format the Micro SD card as FAT32.
Run the lsblkcommand to list the block devices so you can get the block devices name of the micro sd card:
lsblk
In my case, it was mmcblk0. Once you have the block device name, run the parted command as sudo:
sudo parted /dev/mmcblk0
Once you are inside the parted utility, you will notice parted in the command line. Now create the partition table:
mklabel msdos
Then, create one partition:
mkpart primary fat32 1Mib 100%
And exit the parted utility:
quit
Again run the lsblk command to find the name of the partition that you just created:
lsblk
In my case, the partition on the ‘mmcblk0’ block devices was ‘mmcblk0p1’. We are going to format this partition with Fat32 file system:
sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/mmcblk0p1
Our Micro SD card is ready. Let’s download the zip file of the official image of NOOBS from this page. Then unzip the content of the downloaded folder into the root of the Micro SD card. First, change directory to Micro SD card:
cd path_of_microsd_cardunzip path_of_noobs_zip_file.zip
Open the Micro SD card in a file manage to make sure that all files are in the root folder of the card.
Prepare your Pi
Connect an HDMI monitor, keyboard and mouse to the Pi. Plug in the Micro SD card and then connect the 5V power supply. NOOBS will boot up and you will see this screen:
Select Raspbian from the list and click on the install button. The system will reboot after successful installation. Once you boot into Raspbian, open the wireless settings from the top bar and connect to your wireless.
We will be using our Raspberry Pi in headless mode so that we can manage the Christmas music show remotely from a PC, laptop, or mobile device. Before enabling SSH, however, we need to know the IP address of our Pi so that we can log into it remotely. Open the Terminal app and run the following command:
ifconfig
Note down the IP address listed under ‘wlan0’.
Once you have the IP address, open the configuration file of Raspbian by running the following command in the Terminal:
sudo raspi-config
Go to Advanced > SSH and select ‘Yes’ to enable SSH server.
(Note: use the arrow and enter keys to navigate and select; the mouse won’t work here)
We will also change audio settings to get the audio output through the 3.5mm audio jack instead of HDMI. In Advanced Options, go to Audio and select the second option ‘Force 3.5mm (‘headphone’) jack’, then select ‘Ok’.
Select ‘Finish’ in the main window and then reboot the system.
sudo reboot
You can now unplug the HDMI monitor as we will do the rest of the installation and configuration over ssh. Open terminal app on your PC or laptop and then ssh into the Pi:
ssh pi@IP_ADDRESS_OF_PI
In my case it was:
ssh pi@10.0.0.33
Then enter the password for the Pi: ‘raspberry’.
This is the default password for pi, if you want to change it you can do so from the ‘raspi-config’ file.
Now it’s time to update your system:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
It’s always a good idea to reboot your system if there are any kernel updates:
sudo reboot
In the next article, I’ll show how to set up the light show portion of our project, and in part 3, we’ll wrap it all up with some sound.
For 5 more fun projects for the Raspberry Pi 3, including a holiday light display and Minecraft Server, download the free E-book today!
Become an EDF Soldier and Save Earth. Become one of the soldiers of EDF and exterminate the invading aliens. Protect peace on Earth. Human-Looking Aliens Appear for the First Time in The Series
What are the unprecedented and intellectual alien beings from another planet called the 'Primer'? A series-first enemy alien finally appears. The battle with this intelligent enemy produces unprecedented deep despair, while leading the player to the most fun yet as EDF must confront them with courage and wisdom.
New PC/Console MMO From Ark Dev Supports 40,000 Players At Once
Tonight at The Game Awards, Ark: Survival Evolved developer Studio Wildcard announced a new game. Atlas, as it's called, is an open-world survival MMO. It's launching next week on PC, with a console version coming in 2019 through the Xbox One Game Preview program.
Atlas reportedly supports 40,000 concurrent players; and in terms of map size, it's 1,200 times the size of an Ark server, the developers said. There are numerous different biomes in Atlas, including desert, tundra, and polar regions. You'll encounter a series of animals ranging from regular livestock as well as mythological creatures.
Atlas will offer naval battles. The overall aim in Atlas is to build an armada, claim territory, and dominate the world. You can check out the announcement trailer above.
Reggie And Geoff Thank Fans For Watching This Year’s Game Awards
Difficult to not feel a little disappointed that Metroid 4 didn’t make an appearance… but, seeing all of the 3rd party game announcements that are coming over to Switch, I can see why Nintendo felt there was enough big news already without them needing to take their focus off Smash Bros Ultimate. So, in fairness, it all makes perfect sense and as many predicted a DLC character announcement helps to boost the Fighter Pass at launch (the highest amount of Fighter Passes will be purchased in the first few weeks of the game coming out).
There will surely be a January Direct, and that will at least give us some news and dates on Fire Emblem and Yoshi… hopefully it will give us a few other nice surprises for the first half of 2019 too.
Animal Crossing, Luigi’s Mansion 3 and Pokemon are clearly all second half of 2019, so I’m not sure we’ll hear on those until the end of Spring… Metroid 4 is a tricky one. If the Trilogy is getting an HD release, then perhaps we will indeed hear something about Metroid 4 soon… but it feels like E3 will be the earliest now.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 12-07-2018, 05:14 PM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
New to Xbox Game Pass in December: ‘Mortal Kombat X,’ ‘Ashen’ and more
Hello, Xbox Game Pass members! It’s been, what… a whole week since we announced new games coming to Xbox Game Pass? Time to drop a few more for December. We’re here to share the factual facts about factual games coming, in fact, to Xbox Game Pass with facts.
You already know that there are over one hundred great games at your fingertips… but wait, there’s more! Here is how to get the most out of your Xbox Game Pass membership this month (that isn’t just a shameless plug to go follow our Twitter and Instagram and ask you to share your favorite cat gifs with us):
Warn everyone in the house you might randomly yell, “Finish him!” when playing Mortal Kombat X
Caution them that when playing Pro Evolution Soccer 19 you could also burst out yelling “Goooaaaallll!” sometimes
Uh, just go ahead and buy the whole house a bunch of ear plugs
Promise yourself you won’t shriek, but know you’re going to get pretty freaked out after you start playing Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Play Shadow Warrior 2 and scream loudly as you play another game with someone stuck in your head, but this time you’re a ninja
Realize you’re probably still going to need to buy more ear plugs
Install Ori and the Blind Forest to give you all the feels, and less of the loud yelling, shrieking, and angry looks every time people walk past when you turn on the Xbox
Make room for the even more games we’ve got coming this month, but seriously, don’t uninstall anyone’s games to make room because they’re already a little mad about all the yelling
Convince your friends to play Spintires Mudrunner, and salvage your friendships over some (digital) time playing in the mud
Without further ado, let’s dive into some details on the new games coming soon to Xbox Game Pass:
Mortal Kombat X(December 7)
Jump 25 years into the future as the epic Mortal Kombat saga continues. Mortal Kombat X introduces a new generation of fighters (including the return of some fan favorites), brilliant cinematic presentation, and the Character Variation system that allows players to pick from special moves, attacks, or weapons that impact both the strategy and fighting style of each character. Gather your best buds to battle it out in this fantastic fighting game.
Pro Evolution Soccer 19 (December 13)
PES 2019 recreates soccer by showcasing the power of football through authentic leagues and enhanced realism — and Xbox Game Pass members will have access to all the action! And now thanks to a recent game update that added new stadiums, team kits, and a new range of football boots and balls, the game is better than ever before. Xbox Game Pass members are invited to compete in the upcoming season of PES League, Konami’s official global esports competition, to find and award the best player of PES 2019.
Spintires: Mudrunner (December 13)
In the harsh wilds of Siberia, take control of mighty, off-road vehicles in Spintires: Mudrunner. Experience mud, torrential rivers, and other harsh obstacles powered by an impressive physics engine that simulates some of the toughest environments known to man. Drive 19 formidable vehicles, each with their own customizable attachments with nothing but your wits and navigational abilities, or with up to three friends at your side in multiplayer! Work together to haul lumber and unlock new vehicles and maps as you go.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice (December 17)
From Ninja Theory, one of the creative development teams added to the Microsoft Studios family earlier this year, and the makers of Enslaved: Odyssey to the West and DmC: Devil May Cry, comes a warrior’s brutal journey into myth and madness. Set in the Viking age, a broken Celtic warrior embarks on a haunting vision quest into Viking Hell to fight for the soul of her dead lover. Created in collaboration with neuroscientists and people who experience psychosis, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice will pull you deep into Senua’s mind.
Ori and the Blind Forest (December 20)
Often described as exquisitely beautiful and heart-wrenchingly emotional, Ori and the Blind Forest earned critical acclaim – with over 30 industry awards to its name – and deeply passionate fans when it arrived on Xbox One. Moon Studios’ side-scrolling platformer combines incredible art, stirring music, challenging gameplay, and powerful narrative into a landmark game that shouldn’t be missed..
Shadow Warrior 2 (December 20)
The lovechild to one of the most frantic franchises in the world and developer Flying Wild Hog, comes the best FPS melee combat system ever made. Slice your enemies into sashimi with lethal blades or go out with a bang using staggering amount of firepower and archaic magic to purge the world of evil. With those elements combined you have the wackiest, weirdest, and bloodiest looter-shooter ever made. Jump into the shoes of Lo Wang, your friendly, neighborhood ninja slash assassin, slash hitman, slash, slash, slash… Defeat unending waves of monsters on your way to solve the mystery of a girl magically locked in your head.
An open world co-op action RPG about a wanderer in search of a place to call home. As you adventure through the realm of Ashen, you’ll occasionally encounter other players in a passive, co-operative multiplayer open world. It’s up to you to decide how to deal with them – fight together against evil, invite them into your party or simply ignore them.
Kingdom Two Crowns (December 11)
Work with other players in the brand-new solo or co-op campaign mode to build a kingdom and secure it from the threat of the Greed. Experience new technology, units, enemies, mounts, and secrets in the next evolution of the award-winning micro strategy franchise!
Below (December 14)
A procedural terrarium filled with life, mystery, and death. Test your adventurer mettle against The Isle’s subterranean labyrinths. Explore a large, interconnected underworld crawling with cunning wildlife, deadly traps and stalked by a shadowy presence. Survive the perils of The Depths and unearth what lies below… or die trying.
Join Xbox Game Pass Today
With over 100 great games for one low monthly price, including highly-anticipated new Xbox One exclusives the day they’re released, including the highest-rated* Xbox exclusive of this generation Forza Horizon 4, plus more games added all the time, Xbox Game Pass gives you the ultimate freedom to play. If you haven’t tried Xbox Game Pass, join today and get your first month for $1, and discover your next favorite game.
For the latest Xbox Game Pass news, follow us on Twitter and Instagram, download the Xbox Game Pass app for Android and iOS and keep it tuned here to Xbox Wire. Until next month, game on!
We’re back with your weekly look at what’s been happening in mobile games. A lot, as it happens, although not so much on the releases front.
Reviews wise we decided to take a stab at two slightly controversial games – Command & Conquer: Rivals, which is a hot-F2P-mess that has a good game buried underneath the monetisation, and Kingdom Rush: Vengeance, which is an excellent Tower-Defence RTS marred by an overly persistent IAP. Our reviewers really liked both, but readers are dubious – let us know what you think!
The highlight of the week definitely has to be the Ndemic’s new game, Rebel Inc., which we spoke about last week. In this spiritual successor to the excellent Plague Inc., this is a political/military strategy-simulation game where you must use all of the resources at your disposal to try and keep the insurgents at bay, across five richly modelled regions.
Sadly, we weren’t able to secure code for gameplay impressions, or even review, yet, so we can’t comment on what it’s actually like. Chatter so far has been positive though. We’ll try and get you a full review as soon as we can. An Android version is planned, but it won’t be arriving till early 2019.
Twinfold reminds me of this puzzle game my wife used to play where you had to merge blocks together to double -up and try and get higher and higher numbers. It wasn’t as diverse as this new release however, so Twinfold is definitely on the watch-list for the week.
The aim of the game is to merge the golden idols together to achieve higher and higher scores, whilst also taking care not to fall fowl of any of the 7 enemy types that could spawn. Every time you ‘level up’ an idol, a new one appears of the same number but the puzzle environment also shifts via procedural generation. Game Centre support allows for leaderboards and achievements, and if you’re using an iPhone 7 or later, you get haptic feedback. That’s nice.
Now that I’m a parent, I’m always looking out for colour games I could introduce my daughter to that are simple, potentially educational and unlikely to expose her to anything inappropriate. Puzzle games seem to be safe bets at the moment, and Splotches looks very colourful indeed. If I get a chance to try it out for myself, I’ll report back.
This is more of a PSA than an update – as you may have heard by now, Apple has removed Slitherine’s Afghanistan ’11 from sale on the app store. Their reason given was that the game featured “people from specific governments or other real entities as the enemies”. So they had issues with the fact that you were fighting the Taliban, who were identifiable as the Taliban, basically.
It’s not the first time this has happened, but it probably won’t be the last, but users who’ve already purchased and have the game on their device should still be able to play the game, at least. It’s still available to buy on PC.
Ticket to Earth was a very interesting and compelling turn-based strategy game that used coloured tiles as a unique mechanic. It’s only real flaw was that it was billed as an episodic game, and the episodes have been rather slow at coming out. The game was released in March last year and the second episode wasn’t put out until August. Now, over a year later, players can finally get their hands on Episode 3.
This free update adds more levels, powers and playable characters as you attempt to learn the secrets of the Refinery. The update also tweaks the rewards for Episode 2 missions – if you’ve already done those, the added rewards will already be added to your save.
Zach Gage will always get the time of day here at Pocket Tactics. His games are simple, yet wonderful twists on classic forms of entertainment, and the twists are usually bonkers.
Flipflop is the latest game to get an update, and the new content adds ‘Numbered Decks’ mode featuring over 1,000 deals to test your skills at. All these puzzles are meant to be 100% solvable.
The premium edition of the Trese Brother’s mobile 4X outing is down to just a couple of dollars on Android. There’s a free trial version with ads you can check out if you want to try the game for a bit first.
Both of Nomad’s revivals of the iconic ‘Choose your own adventure’ narrative adventure games are on sale once again, on both platforms to boot. Both games have been this cheap before, as recent as the end of October this year.
To coincide with the release of Episode 3, Ticket to Earth is now a dollar off on both stores. Fair warning, it was being sold for $1.99 back in July 2017 for a while, but it hasn’t been that cheap since then.
Seen anything else you like? Played any of the above? Let us know in the comments!
Welcome to Solis, a huge South American world home of conflict, oppression and extreme weather conditions. Just Cause 4 sees rogue hero Rico Rodriguez land in Solis to hunt down the truth about his past, at any costs. Strap into your wingsuit, equip your fully customizable grappling hook, and get ready to bring the thunder. Soar through the skies with your wingsuit - Skydive, Base Jump and Free Dive with no limits. Fight your enemies under extreme weather conditions, including treacherous tornadoes and tropical lightning storms, taking the iconic Just Cause action to insane new heights. Use extreme weather events to your advantage thanks to never seen before in-game physics. Spearhead the rebellion and defeat the Black Hand, a hi-tech private military organisation. Face off against Gabriela Morales ? your most fierce, capable, and unpredictable adversary yet. Uncover the truth of Rico?s father?s past life on Solis? and its extreme weather. Explore the remote South American country of Solis, home of conflict, secrets, and danger. Enjoy 100 square kilometres of exotic playground, from rainforest to desert, via snowy mountain peaks. Discover a plethora of wonders as you explore the world of Solis from bustling cities to rural grasslands. [Square Enix]
