Indie studio Troglobytes Games has revealed that a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign will soon be launching for its upcoming twin-stick shooter HyperParasite.

We first reported on this one at the start of last month, noting its funky ’80s-inspired visuals and fast-paced action. With work now well underway on the title, Troglobytes Games is seeking to raise $29,000 to “accelerate development, and to aid the porting to consoles”.

The campaign will go live on 10th October (which is next Wednesday) and a link has already been set up to get ready for the big event. Naturally, the pledge rewards and any potential stretch goals are yet to be revealed, so make sure to check back on the day of the campaign’s launch to find out more. You can also try out a demo of the game on Steam as we speak.

HyperParasite is aiming for a 2019 release on Switch, with the success of this campaign no doubt being an important step towards that goal. We’ll leave you with this feature list to learn a little more about what you can expect:

Game Features:
– A fresh twist on the genre: hop from one host body to another
– 60 Playable Characters to Body-Snatch and utilise their attributes
– Unique retro 3D-pixelated visual style
– Original retro inspired synth-wave soundtrack
– Cast+weapons includes – cops+guns, Werewolves+claws, robots+lasers, aliens and so much more
– Procedurally generated levels that will play differently each time, challenging even the most seasoned of players
– An intense and frantic co-op mode: can the humans handle TWO HyperParasites?

Will you be pledging your support?

Assault Spy / is Now Available on Steam!

Dash, evade, and smash your way to the truth as the corporate spy, Asaru; or the reckless CIA agent, Amelia! Uncover the dark secrets of the Negabot mega corporation as you save the company from a hostile takeover. Assault Spy is a stylish, fast paced, pure-action game with a dash of comedy.

This week at Bungie, Guardians gave chase to the goals that meant the most to each of them.

Be it Power, Triumphs, Exotics, or quests, there was an aim to achieve. Ever since Cayde-6 met his doom in the depths of the Prison of Elders, we’ve shared a journey through the discoveries in Forsaken. Week after the week, the community conversation has been dominated by the revelation of new secrets and challenges. Some of you have lamented the fact that’s it’s been hard to keep up, but all of these things still await you.

We have some more tricks up our sleeves to keep your Guardian lifestyle rich and exciting, and those conversations will begin soon. In the meantime, there are still some questions we’d like to answer about how the day-to-day experience will be changing with the next round of updates.

Let’s dig in and set some expectations.

Gambit and the Malfeasance Quest

The following changes are currently in development for Destiny 2 Update 2.0.5, planned for October 30. If any issues are found in the course of that work, changes may be delayed or tweaked accordingly. Make sure to stay tuned for future updates. Without further ado, here’s what you need to know, coming directly from the Gambit team.

Malfeasance Acquisition: We’ve heard player feedback concerning the spawn rates of the Ascendant Primeval Servitor, and we are making adjustments to how frequently it will appear.

During week three of the curse cycle, also known as a full-curse week, the Ascendant Primeval Servitor will have almost the same chance to spawn as any other Primeval. We will also be increasing the chance for the boss to spawn during lesser-curse weeks, but it will still be lower than during a full-curse week.

For full transparency, since the Ascendant Primeval Servitor spawn rate will increase significantly when these changes are released, we are tweaking how ship and Sparrow rewards drop from the boss. Vanity items are no longer guaranteed drops for subsequent boss kills after you earn the quest, instead the vanity items will now only have a chance to drop.

Quitter Protection: We are currently developing a change to Gambit matchmaking that will help with the extended load times some players have been experiencing. When this change is released, we will be re-enabling quitter penalties for the Gambit playlist. However, we have increased the number of games players can leave before they are restricted from the playlist. We are making this change to help mitigate some situations where bad internet connectivity results in a restriction.

Power Ammo Crate Changes: To help balance some weapons, we’re changing the amount of ammo that you will receive when opening an ammo crate with certain weapons equipped:

The Gambit team is closely monitoring community feedback and looking at game data. In future updates, you should expect changes to Gambit bounties, how frequently you earn rewards, and other changes to the mode that will give teams in the lead a greater advantage. We’ll be back in future weeks to shed more light on the future of Gambit as it continues to evolve.

—The Gambit Team

Update Calendar

Last year, we used Roadmaps to telegraph how Destiny 2 was going to evolve. In the months to come, our plans for the Seasons and the Annual Pass are the items worth illustrating. That doesn’t mean that you won’t receive updates that address the issues you’ve been talking to us about. Here are some downloads that we hope are worth putting on your calendar, as well as a quick preview of what to expect from each of them.

Destiny 2 Update 2.0.4, tentatively scheduled for October 16, 2018:

Destiny 2 Update 2.0.5, tentatively scheduled for October 30, 2018. Please note, the changes listed below are currently in development. These could change, be impacted by delays, or cut if issues are found. Stay tuned for updates!

Expect more details on the blog for each update in the coming weeks.

Wishes and Curses

If Forsaken was like any other Destiny content release, right about now, you might be wondering when another version of the raid will rear its ugly head full of eyes and teeth. Approaching Forsaken, the Raid Team had specific goals in mind for Last Wish and how players would engage with the content:

As we hope you have noticed, our goals for this expansion have been very different. All year long, we’ve been working behind the scenes to reinvent the way a story campaign feeds into a lasting hobby. We set out to change everything from the way you collect gear to the way you tackle the endgame.

With the goals to create a more varied and rewarding experience across the endgame of Destiny laid out before us, we had to make a series of difficult choices. One of these choices was that we would not be creating multiple difficulties of Last Wish. Instead, Forsaken would focus on making sure the single difficulty mode of Last Wish was highly rewarding and that there were plenty of unique activities to participate in for great rewards across the entire endgame. Once this decision was made, we focused on creating one definitive version of Last Wish with no qualifiers attached to it.  We wanted to create an experience that offered the truest forms of every encounter from day one, and offered some of the most powerful rewards in the game to anyone who could succeed. 

Watching your reactions to Last Wish has been one the highlights of the Raid Team’s career, and we can’t wait to see how you fare this December in the Black Armory’s brand new raid lair. 

If you’re holding an Annual Pass, look for more about the next lair we’re creating for a raider such as yourself real soon. First, though, there are other events to observe.

Lost and Found

Welcome to October. This month will be home to another Festival of the Lost. It begins on October 16, 2018, with a celebration of lost heroes and a new challenge to tackle. It includes a costume party, and you’re all invited. It ends with a quest to solve a murder.

Be on the lookout next week for a full reveal of what we’re scaring up for this season.

Player Support Report

As we continue to march forward into Season of the Outlaw, Destiny Player Support is on task to keep you updated on the latest investigations. New issues? Incoming maintenance? Outbreaks of Weasels? They’ve got you covered.

Backend Maintenance

On Tuesday of this week, we conducted backend maintenance to Destiny services. While no systems were brought offline, API users may have noticed a momentary interruption of Companion services.

Yesterday, we conducted bungie.net maintenance. Within this brief maintenance window, bungie.net fireteam features were disabled. Players who have observed service and stability issues following these maintenance windows should report them to the #Help forum.

Toil and Trouble

With the launch of Season of the Outlaw, we’ve updated how players gain ranks and earn loot from Commander Zavala. Players who visit him may notice that he has a new reward system called Nightfall ranks.

Nightfall ranks represent a player’s progression through all of Destiny 2’s Nightfall strikes and are incremented every time a player completes a different Nightfall strike with a bonus threshold beyond 100,000 points. For each Nightfall where players surpass its bonus threshold, their Nightfall rank will increment upward by one whole point. For players to achieve the maximum Nightfall rank of 14 and make Zavala’s tier-10 Masterwork Toil and Trouble available for purchase, players will need to surpass the 100,000 point bonus threshold in all 14 Nightfall strikes.

In addition to Nightfall ranks, Commander Zavala also oversees the Vanguard ranks. This system functions much the same to prior seasons, and only requires players to earn Vanguard packages by turning in reputation tokens earned by completing strikes and Vanguard Bounties.

WEASEL Errors at Character Select

In recent weeks, Destiny Player Support has become aware of an issue where some players are encountering WEASEL errors when attempting to log into one or more of their characters at the Character Select screen. Additionally, players may be unable to view affected characters on bungie.net and third-party applications using API services.

Upon investigating this issue, we believe it is caused by bounties expiring while they are left in a given character’s Postmaster. While we are working to resolve this issue for characters who are already affected, players can proactively take mitigation steps by ensuring that no bounties are left in the Postmaster before logging out of a play session. It’s critical to note that character data is not at risk due to this occurrence, and all characters are expected to be intact once this issue is resolved.

For information on a fix as soon as it is available, players should keep an eye on our Updates page.

Destiny 2: Forsaken Known Issues

In addition to the items listed above, Destiny Player Support is tracking the latest issues reported by players on the #Help forum. Provided below is a brief overview of the latest known issues in Destiny 2: Forsaken.

• Gambit Malfeasance Boss: We are investigating issues where a team will defeat the Ascendant Primeval Servitor, but the opposing team receives credit for the kill.
• Infusion Without Masterwork Cores: We are investigating an issue where players who have no Masterwork Cores in their inventory are unable to infuse gear, even if Masterwork Cores are not required for the immediate infusion cost.
• Heroic Adventures on Mercury: For players wishing to play Heroic Adventures on Mercury and aren’t able to do so, they must speak with Brother Vance and play through the Normal Adventures first.
• Clan Bounty Percentage: We are tracking an issue where Hawthorne’s weekly clan XP percentage appears to be resetting during the week for some players.

Flawless Footage

As players have continued to uncover mysteries of the Dreaming City, they’ve also uncovered the next step in acquiring the Rivensbane Seal. Talk about watching a movie at edge of your seat—this fireteam had to get through without a single death! Goes without saying, but some of these will contain SPOILERS.

Movie of the Week: 13th Wish—Petra’s Run—Flawless Raid

Runner Up: What Would a Titan Do?

Runner Up: Synchronized Supers

For the last week, I’ve been lost. No internet, no TV, no cell reception… not even a microwave. The smell of boiled eggs filled the air as I searched for technology and Destiny news around the steaming thermal features of Yellowstone. Somehow, I made it out alive. I feel I’ve changed, somewhat. The beautiful views of wild Buffalo (Bison bison) and untouched landscape of the nation’s first national park gave me a new perspective on things.

With all that said and done, it’s good to be back. Luna’s Howl is in my holster, but Not Forgotten is my next goal. What’s next on your list? 

See you out there, Guardians.

Dmg04

If you’re a Linux systems administrator, one of the first tools you will turn to for troubleshooting are log files. These files hold crucial information that can go a long way to help you solve problems affecting your desktops and servers. For many sysadmins (especially those of an old-school sort), nothing beats the command line for checking log files. But for those who’d rather have a more efficient (and possibly modern) approach to troubleshooting, there are plenty of options.

In this article, I’ll highlight a few such tools available for the Linux platform. I won’t be getting into logging tools that might be specific to a certain service (such as Kubernetes or Apache), and instead will focus on tools that work to mine the depths of all that magical information written into /var/log.

Speaking of which…

What is /var/log?

If you’re new to Linux, you might not know what the /var/log directory contains. However, the name is very telling. Within this directory is housed all of the log files from the system and any major service (such as Apache, MySQL, MariaDB, etc.) installed on the operating system. Open a terminal window and issue the command cd /var/log. Follow that with the command ls and you’ll see all of the various systems that have log files you can view (Figure 1).

Say, for instance, you want to view the syslog log file. Issue the command less syslog and you can scroll through all of the gory details of that particular log. But what if the standard terminal isn’t for you? What options do you have? Plenty. Let’s take a look at few such options.

Logs

If you use the GNOME desktop (or other, as Logs can be installed on more than just GNOME), you have at your fingertips a log viewer that mainly just adds the slightest bit of GUI goodness over the log files to create something as simple as it is effective. Once installed (from the standard repositories), open Logs from the desktop menu, and you’ll be treated to an interface (Figure 2) that allows you to select from various types of logs (Important, All, System, Security, and Hardware), as well as select a boot period (from the top center drop-down), and even search through all of the available logs.

Logs is a great tool, especially if you’re not looking for too many bells and whistles getting in the way of you viewing crucial log entries, so you can troubleshoot your systems.

KSystemLog

KSystemLog is to KDE what Logs is to GNOME, but with a few more features to add into the mix. Although both make it incredibly simple to view your system log files, only KSystemLog includes colorized log lines, tabbed viewing, copy log lines to the desktop clipboard, built-in capability for sending log messages directly to the system, read detailed information for each log line, and more. KSystemLog views all the same logs found in GNOME Logs, only with a different layout.

From the main window (Figure 3), you can view any of the different log (from System Log, Authentication Log, X.org Log, Journald Log), search the logs, filter by Date, Host, Process, Message, and select log priorities.

If you click on the Window menu, you can open a new tab, where you can select a different log/filter combination to view. From that same menu, you can even duplicate the current tab. If you want to manually add a log to a file, do the following:

1. Open KSystemLog.

2. Click File > Add Log Entry.

3. Create your log entry (Figure 4).

4. Click OK

KSystemLog makes viewing logs in KDE an incredibly easy task.

Logwatch

Logwatch isn’t a fancy GUI tool. Instead, logwatch allows you to set up a logging system that will email you important alerts. You can have those alerts emailed via an SMTP server or you can simply view them on the local machine. Logwatch can be found in the standard repositories for almost every distribution, so installation can be done with a single command, like so:

sudo apt-get install logwatch

Or:

sudo dnf install logwatch

During the installation, you will be required to select the delivery method for alerts (Figure 5). If you opt to go the local mail delivery only, you’ll need to install the mailutils app (so you can view mail locally, via the mail command).

All Logwatch configurations are handled in a single file. To edit that file, issue the command sudo nano /usr/share/logwatch/default.conf/logwatch.conf. You’ll want to edit the MailTo = option. If you’re viewing this locally, set that to the Linux username you want the logs sent to (such as MailTo = jack). If you are sending these logs to an external email address, you’ll also need to change the MailFrom = option to a legitimate email address. From within that same configuration file, you can also set the detail level and the range of logs to send. Save and close that file.
Once configured, you can send your first mail with a command like:

logwatch --detail Med --mailto ADDRESS --service all --range today

Where ADDRESS is either the local user or an email address.

For more information on using Logwatch, issue the command man logwatch. Read through the manual page to see the different options that can be used with the tool.

Rsyslog

Rsyslog is a convenient way to send remote client logs to a centralized server. Say you have one Linux server you want to use to collect the logs from other Linux servers in your data center. With Rsyslog, this is easily done. Rsyslog has to be installed on all clients and the centralized server (by issuing a command like sudo apt-get install rsyslog). Once installed, create the /etc/rsyslog.d/server.conf file on the centralized server, with the contents:

# Provide UDP syslog reception

$ModLoad imudp

$UDPServerRun 514 # Provide TCP syslog reception

$ModLoad imtcp

$InputTCPServerRun 514 # Use custom filenaming scheme

$template FILENAME,"/var/log/remote/%HOSTNAME%.log"

*.* ?FILENAME $PreserveFQDN on

Save and close that file. Now, on every client machine, create the file /etc/rsyslog.d/client.conf with the contents:

$PreserveFQDN on

$ActionQueueType LinkedList

$ActionQueueFileName srvrfwd

$ActionResumeRetryCount -1

$ActionQueueSaveOnShutdown on

*.* @@SERVER_IP:514

Where SERVER_IP is the IP address of your centralized server. Save and close that file. Restart rsyslog on all machines with the command:

sudo systemctl restart rsyslog

You can now view the centralized log files with the command (run on the centralized server):

tail -f /var/log/remote/*.log

The tail command allows you to view those files as they are written to, in real time. You should see log entries appear that include the client hostname (Figure 6).

Rsyslog is a great tool for creating a single point of entry for viewing the logs of all of your Linux servers.

More where that came from

This article only scratched the surface of the logging tools to be found on the Linux platform. And each of the above tools is capable of more than what is outlined here. However, this overview should give you a place to start your long day’s journey into the Linux log file.

Learn more about Linux through the free “Introduction to Linux” course from The Linux Foundation and edX.

It all started last October. I was well into my first year of teaching second, third and fourth grade in a self-contained classroom for students with autism. My focus was to equip students with the social, academic and emotional skills needed to be members of their community. I was implementing eight behavior plans, three reading interventions, two math interventions, and was responsible for eight Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). It was a lot.

When I received an email that said my district was transitioning to the Microsoft Education suite, I wasn’t thrilled. In my mind, the Microsoft products were just another tool that would not meet the changing needs of the autistic students I taught.

I went to a Microsoft training, but still questioned how these products would meet the needs of my students. We only had three computers in my classroom, and my students were still learning how to type. How were they going to navigate complex programs like OneNote, PowerPoint, and Sway? How was I going to fit in the time to teach my students to use technology when they had more pressing social and academic needs? I decided I wasn’t going to implement the products.

Technology as a tool, not a barrier

Fast forward a few weeks and my class was working on a writing assignment. The goal of the assignment was simple—use visuals and adapted writing strategies, state an opinion, and support it with at least three reasons using complete sentences. I had graphic organizers, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) pieces, adapted lined paper, and a plan.

My students wrote two drafts with one-on-one support and explicit modeling, but one student was struggling. This student had a difficult time expressing his thoughts verbally, let alone on paper. He’d written two sentences in one week. It was difficult for me to figure out how to help him.

Then I thought of the Microsoft products that had been shared with me. It couldn’t hurt to try out OneNote with this student. So I put a computer in front of him and was blown away.

Without any prompting, he started typing. Not random letters, not a few simple words. He was able to write full, grammatically correct sentences. I couldn’t believe it.

The first time I used OneNote with the student who started the technology takeover in my classroom.

Seven months later, he’s made strides that are nothing short of incredible. His reading has increased nine levels. He’s gone from doing single-digit addition to multiplication. He’s playing at recess, talking to his peers, and smiling from ear to ear.

None of that would have been possible without the tools that Microsoft put into my classroom.

Here’s how OneNote and Immersive Reader help my students find success and give them access to the world around them.

Increased independence in reading

OneNote and Microsoft Learning Tools – like the picture dictionary and Immersive Reader – help my students read independently. They experience difficulty decoding words using traditional phonics strategies because English isn’t a consistent language. Microsoft Learning Tools provides my students with appropriate supports that can be increased or decreased to meet their needs.

For example, I have a student who benefits from visual prompts to read because he has difficulties applying decoding strategies on his own. I turned on his picture dictionary in Immersive Reader and taught him how to use it as a decoding strategy. During guided reading or independent reading, he is able to use the picture dictionary as a decoding tool, increasing his independence and access to the material.

If a student needs fewer prompts, I turn the picture dictionary off and teach my students how to use Immersive Reader when they are stuck on a tricky word.

A student uses Immersive Reader’s picture dictionary to decode a word.

After practicing technology decoding strategies in guided reading, we focus on comprehension. After multiple readings of a text, students answer questions using Forms in OneNote. I create a form unique to students’ needs and IEP goals, with the option to use them later with another student. These forms include pictures, answer choices, fill-in-the-blank statements – the possibilities are endless.

When students answer the questions, I immediately get the data in an Excel sheet that I can use to plan future instruction, update progress notes, and write IEP goals. Forms decreases the time I spend planning questions, increases my data collection, and creates a sustainable and economic way to test comprehension (no more copies!).

Forms can include accessibility supports such as pictures, answer choices, and read aloud features.

Writing

OneNote provides a way for me to differentiate writing materials to help my students be more successful. OneNote is not just an add-on or finishing tool my students use to type their final draft. I use OneNote to create personalized graphic organizers so my students can access writing independently. I highlight text, provide sentence stems, or write questions that promote independence for my students. For my pre-readers, these supports help because Immersive Reader reads them the supports.

Making a differentiated writing prompt in OneNote takes two minutes, saving me time and resources (like ink and paper) and can be the difference between a student having access or struggling with the assignment.

Examples of differentiated writing prompts. From left to right: A student uses a text in OneNote and a speech to text application to complete a graphic organizer. An example of a differentiated prompt that includes sentence stems and highlighting to indicate where students need to write. An example of another prompt that includes numbers to prompt the student to write the sentences in order.

Self-regulation

OneNote promotes self-regulation in my classroom when we use it to display visual schedules that help students transition to different parts of the room independently. My students use the “to do” feature in OneNote to check off centers as they transition, and they reset their to do list at the end of the day. In addition to promoting self-regulation, this is teaching a crucial life skill that my students need—how to make a list and cross off completed items.

An example of a visual schedule in OneNote that increases self-regulation and independence.

Parent communication

One of the best things about OneNote is the parent link share. I use this feature to show parents exactly what their kids are doing in the classroom. This link provides parents view-only access to their child’s notebook, and they can see everything they are reading in guided reading, notes from science, and any notes I leave in the parent communication tab.

This keeps parents up to date, involves them in their child’s learning, and provides an instant answer to the “What should I be working on at home?” question. It’s easy for parents to navigate, and even easier for them to help their child at home.

Technology in the real world

Microsoft OneNote and Immersive Reader give my students tools to be successful in the classroom, in the community, and in college and career. Regardless of their reading level, they can access books, newspaper articles, news updates, and job applications with Immersive Reader. OneNote provides them the platform to self-regulate and organize their daily schedules, assignments, and calendars.

Remember that student who began this technology transformation in my classroom? He is now my go-to technology expert when other students have questions or difficulties using Microsoft technologies. With the help of my principal, my classroom is now one-to-one with technology.

Our school’s first Skype a Scientist session that promoted inclusion between my class and a general education fourth grade class.

Students are able to use the Microsoft products in personalized ways that meet their needs. I am now a Microsoft Innovative Educator Expert who is passionate about using technology to promote accessibility and inclusion for students with disabilities. My school is on our way to becoming a Microsoft Showcase school and is a more inclusive school as Microsoft Learning Tools allows all students to work side-by-side, regardless of ability. Thanks to Microsoft, my students’ lives are better because they have access to 21st Century tools that will help them navigate the world.

Megan Callahan is a special education teacher in Washington, D.C. She writes about how she includes technology in her classroom at thespedcreative.com

“Aspyr, when will you be giving us Civilization 6 on our iPhone?”, said everyone, ever. Well, now the developers have followed through and you’ll be pleased to know that the iOS version of Civ 6 is finally iPhone compatible, making it a ‘universal’ game.

To recap, this means that if you already own Civ 6 on your iPad, you’ll be able to download it on your iPhone completely free of charge.

If you never picked it up (particularly if you don’t own an iPad), then Aspyr also want to help you out. As you may remember, Civ 6 is actually “free”, in the sense that you can download the game at no cost and play out the first 60 turns of a game.

You then need to purchase an IAP to unlock the full experience and be able to use the DLC packs that have been released so far. Normally this retails for $59.99 but until October 16^th, 2018, you can purchase that unlock at a 60% discount – so $23.99 USD.

This is the biggest discount on that IAP to date – although there have been regular 50% discounts since the game’s launch last year. If you’re playing chicken and waiting for a bigger discount, I doubt it’ll get much cheaper while Civ 6 is still in active development.

If you’ve already played the free trial and are still unsure, you can read Nick’s review to find out more. He’ll also be dropping on thoughts on the iPhone version specifically in tomorrow’s Weekender update, so keep an eye out for that as well.

Remember, Civilization VI on iOS has the following minimum spec requirements: iOS 11 on an iPhone 7 or 7 Plus, iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, or any iPad Pro.

Last month, the GNOME project announced the release of GNOME 3.30. The good news is that this new version of GNOME is default in the forthcoming release of Fedora 29 Workstation. GNOME 3.30 includes a range of new features and enhancements, including improvements to Files (nautilus), and the new Podcasts application.

The new Podcasts application in GNOME 3.30

The great news is that you can already give GNOME 3.30 on Fedora a test-drive with a Fedora 29 prerelease version. In fact, there is a Test Day happening this Friday October 5th , 2018.

How do test days work?

A test day is an event where anyone can help make sure that changes in Fedora work well in the upcoming release. Fedora community members often participate and and the public is welcome at these events. The wiki page provides lot of good information on what and how to test.

By: Amos Miller, Microsoft AI & Research

Imagine you’re paddling on the lake, you feel the warm sun on your face, listen quietly to the calm ripples of the water. You can hear a sound beacon, in 3D, on the water, just in front of you and over to the right; you know exactly where it is, you steer the kayak towards it, paddle like crazy and catch it, collecting 25 points.

When your ability to perceive the space around you is enhanced in a natural, intuitive way, the urge to get out and enjoy that heightened sense of independence is irresistible. We experienced that feeling a few weeks ago on a beautiful sunny day on Lake Sammamish at the Microsoft Soundscape kayaking PaddlePalooza. What was that all about? Let me share the story.

In my June post, I noted the continued excitement about the Soundscape beacon from people who are blind or have low vision. Many of you have asked to be able to place the Soundscape audio beacon anywhere. In response, we recently introduced Soundscape markers. With Soundscape you can now quickly and easily mark-up anything in your surroundings that you care about. That could be, for example, your front door or the post box at the top of your street, or you can mark-up key landmarks in your area to help with learning a route. You might even mark the entrance to the park or the picnic spot on the lawn.

With your markers in place you can hear them through Soundscape or set a beacon to them, so you can always know where they are. This is a wonderful way for you to personalize the areas you walk in and build up confidence to go beyond what you are familiar with, always knowing that you have your markers for orientation. Do give it a try and tell us what you think. It’s a lot of fun.

We then thought, well, if you can place a marker anywhere what if we marked up a lake and used the markers for orientation on the water while kayaking? Hmmm. Ok, so this sounds new, and we figured it would be something that takes empowerment to a completely new level!

As part of the Microsoft One Week hackathon, we marked up seven virtual beacons on the lake. In partnership with Outdoors For All, we invited a group of people with blindness or low vision to join us for a kayaking scavenger hunt.

[embedded content]

Click here for the audio description of the Soundscape Kayaking Scavenger Hunt video.

Wow! What an extraordinary day. When you wake up in the morning and by the end of the day realize you have done something you never imagined would be possible.

Now for the cool statistics! Of the 13 competing teams, 3 had only sighted paddlers, and 10 had blind or low vision paddlers. 11 of the 13 teams successfully found all seven beacons (covering an area roughly within a circle of 1000 meters in diameter) and scored the maximum points. The winning team completed the course in just 16 minutes!! The best sighted team came in sixth place at 25 minutes!

“We were having a blast, the sun was shining, the water was calm and warm, I had an attentive partner, and I was independently captaining a kayak and successfully found all seven beacons, earning the maximum 140 points in 25 minutes…the exhilaration of being able to compete, to experience the freedom of paddling on the water, and truly being the navigator of our team is something I’ll remember always,” noted Cindy Van Winkle, a participant from the Seattle Lighthouse. You can read more about her experience on her blog.

The kayaking experience motivated us to reflect, once again, on what we mean by the sense of independence and about presence and empowerment. Have people who are blind kayaked before? Sure, they do all the time. However, are they really the driver? On this occasion they indeed were the driver in every sense of the term.

Firstly, in the teams with a paddler who is blind, only the blind participant knew where the beacons were located; the sighted companions had no indication where they were, and therefore they were not able to help. That meant that the paddler who is blind didn’t even need to ask for that independence, it was built into the game. Secondly, the participants didn’t have an agent whispering in their ear, go left a bit, straight, right, nor did they receive any form of instructions they had to listen to and process. Instead, Soundscape, using 3D audio, enabled the participant to effortlessly hear exactly where the beacons were, leaving it for them to decide where to steer. This transfer of control not only creates a true sense of independence, but the participants in fact performed much better. I talk about this phenomenon in my TedX talk where I describe the feeling I had flying a glider.

A few months ago, at an event in Montana I had the pleasure of meeting Sharon. As we made our way out to learn how to use the Soundscape beacon, I noticed that Sharon stayed back. When I checked with her I understood she chose not to join because she is hard of hearing. After we established that she was still able to hear the high pitch of the Soundscape beacon, she gave it a try, and, with her husband walking along with her, off they went and within a few minutes made it to her destination. When I caught up with them I noticed she was overcome with emotion, this had been the first time in many years she truly felt that sense of independence and that she was in the driver’s seat. For her, this is what mattered at that moment, that sense of joy and empowerment; and, knowing that her life would now be different.

There is no greater gift that technology can provide than a true sense of independence.

I must say that the impact the kayak hack has really surprised and motivated us to think about how we can bring Soundscape to more people and more organizations to really benefit from the value it provides and the empowering changes it has started to enable for people. This is something that we are looking into, and if you, or an organization you know, run programs or activities in which you believe Soundscape can help then do get in touch with us at soundscapefeed@microsoft.com.

Before wrapping up let me highlight some of the other recent updates we made to Soundscape:

• We’ve been working to light up the experience while you’re travelling, whether in a bus, a car, or a train. To minimize interruptions and avoid getting in the way of whatever else you may be doing, Soundscape now identifies when you are in a moving vehicle and adjusts callouts to include only major landmarks, and update you only when you change roads.
• Battery savings! You no longer need to close Soundscape to save battery; you can now just select the “Sleep” button on the home screen to stop Soundscape from using GPS and your data plan.
• For our low vision users, you no longer need to hold the phone flat when pressing buttons; instead, you can now bring the phone right up close and press buttons, and everything will continue working correctly.

We can’t wait to hear what you make of them, please do continue to write to us on soundscapefeed@microsoft.com and of course, check our FAQ’s on our website for more detailed information and guidance.

In closing we welcome our friends from down under to the Soundscape community! Soundscape was launched in Australia on September 12, 2018, with a great partnership with Vision Australia and the extended community of people who are blind. Based on our learnings from the launch in Australia we continue to look at how we can bring Soundscape to other countries and aim to support the local language where possible. We will be sure to provide further updates as soon as we can.

We continue to be humbled by the response to Soundscape, we recognize that this is just the start and there is more work to be done; but please keep the feedback coming, on anything from the app, to the content we produce, to the way we can engage with you. Let’s continue to empower everyone, everywhere with the benefits of technology.

Amos and the Soundscape team.

Microsoft Soundscape is available for free on iOS and iPhone in the US, UK and Australia.