Free Reshiram And Zekrom Distribution Begins This Month For Pokémon Sun & Moon
The Pokémon Company has shared details surrounding the latest distribution for the ‘Year of Legendary Pokémon’ celebrations. This time around, you can get your hands on Reshiram and Zekrom.
Originally appearing in Pokémon Black and White, these fearsome beasts will soon be available in Pokémon Sun and Moon and Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. Their stats will differ depending on which game you plan to send them to, with Zekrom being exclusive to the Sun versions of the games, and Reshiram being exclusive to the Moon games. Here’s all the info you need:
For UK players, the legendary beasts can be obtained via the Mystery Gift function in the games between the 5th and the 21st October. US players can snag the Pokémon from participating Target stores between the 19th and 28th October.
Also, in case you had forgotten, the Zeraora distribution is also taking place this month. This Pokémon is available to obtain between now and 15th November (from GAME in the UK, and GAME / Gamestop / Micromania across Europe) and will be available at Gamestop in the US from the 19th October, but only for the ‘Ultra’ versions of the games.
Will you be adding any of these elusive creatures to your team?
Mega Man is back! The newest entry in this iconic series blends classic, challenging 2D platforming action with a fresh new visual style. The new Double Gear system boosts Mega Man’s speed and power for a new twist to the satisfying gameplay the series is known for.
The Linux Foundation strives to make Open Source Summit one of the most inclusive tech events in a variety of ways, offering activities such as the “Women in Open Source” lunch, a diversity social, a first-time attendees get-together, and more. The have activities focused on children, too. Not only does Open Source Summit offer free on-site childcare for attendees’ children, they also sponsor a Kid’s Day.
At this year’s Kid’s Day in Vancouver, the primary goal was to introduce the kids to coding via HTML, and very little computer knowledge or experience was required to participate. “The basics, typing, browsing the Internet and minor computer operation, are all your child needs to participate,” according to the website.
For this event, The Linux Foundation collaborated with Banks Family Tech, who organized the 4-hour long workshop. This workshop was geared toward children ages 9–18 and was open to children from the community as well as those of event attendees. The kids that participated actually ranged in age from 5-13 years of age, and, many already had some coding experience. Some had tried Scratch, and others had written scripts for games.
“We are going to teach how to go from nothing and become coders,” said Phillip Banks, founder of Banks Family Tech.
HTML workshop
The workshop focused squarely on HTML, one of the easiest computing languages. “It’s close to English and it’s not hard text and syntax to learn. It allows us to squeeze a lot of things into a day and get them excited so that they can go home and learn more,” said Banks. “After that, maybe, you can go to Python but HTML is so easy as they get a quick return by manipulating objects, text color and other things on a web-page immediately.”
This Kid’s Day event had a great mix of participants. While some of the kids accompanied their parents who were attending the conference, the majority were from the local community, whose parents learned about the workshop from social networks like Facebook. Khristine Carino, Director for Communications of SCWIST (Society for Canadian Women In Science and Technology), not only brought her own kids but also invited families from underrepresented minorities in Vancouver.
In the workshop, the children learned HTML basics like font tags, how to use fonts and colors, how to add images and videos, and how choose a background for their website. They also had the opportunity to share what they created with the whole group and learn from each other.
“It’s not so much about learning to code, just to be a coder; it’s learning to understand how things work,” said Banks. You can hear more in the video below.
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Check out the full list of activities coming up at Open Source Summit in Europe and sign up to receive updates:
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-04-2018, 02:47 PM - Forum: Windows
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Xbox brings ‘Forza Horizon 4’ to life at Goodwood House
I was dying to get back to the fun stuff, and Xbox obliged. We were heading to the next event in a 60-year-old Land Rover Discovery (the other vehicle on the front of the Forza Horizon 4 box), and I would be behind the wheel. Yes! This was more like it.
It only had four gears but I barely used first: “This vehicle’s got so much torque you should be pulling away in second,” my co-driver, who worked for Goodwood House, said. A plaque on the dashboard said the Land Rover could reach 122mph, but the engine sounded like it was going to explode at 60mph. I had a hard time slowing it down at that speed, as the brakes are as “classic” as the steering, and I nearly hit the car in front a couple of times (sorry to whomever was driving that red Fiat Punto).
We soon headed off-road and took a chalk track that used to be the main route from Chichester to London for horse-drawn carriages. Keeping the Land Rover in a low gear was essential here, as was concentration, as the ride was bumpy, to say the least.
“Take your foot off the clutch and brake and let it go on its own, it won’t stall,” my co-driver said. I was used to driving a modern car with the constant fear that I would stall it. No such problems in the Land Rover – it effortlessly rolled downhill without even thinking about stalling.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-04-2018, 02:47 PM - Forum: Windows
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Announcing the first AI for Accessibility grantee: Zyrobotics
By Wendy Chisholm, Principal Accessibility Architect
In May, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced AI for Accessibility to put AI tools in the hands of developers, universities, NGOs and inventors to accelerate the development of accessible and intelligent AI solutions to benefit people with disabilities around the world.
Today, we are announcing the first AI for Accessibility grantee, Zyrobotics. They are developing unique solutions for accessible science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education, like ReadAble Storiez, that are adaptive to the diverse needs of students. We are thrilled to have them as part of our program and we can’t wait to see the impact they will have!
ReadAble Storiez is a reading fluency program for students with diverse learning needs, which also helps fill in the gaps for students from low-income homes who may not have access to speech-language or occupational therapists. By creating custom speech models with Microsoft Cognitive Services and Azure Machine Learning, they aim to identify when a student needs feedback, much like an occupational therapist would recognize and provide.
Zyrobotics is a team of educators and developers who have a passion for creating technology that will enhance the quality of life for children. Last week, Satya had the opportunity to meet with Zyrobotics CEO Dr. Johnetta MacCalla and CTO Dr. Ayanna Howard in Atlanta, Georgia, and learn more about their work and passion for helping all students become better readers.
As Dr. Howard shared with us, “In our experience, because every child is different, you have to let them look at technology in different ways, more than just visual and auditory. Our focus is to incorporate interaction and personalization. The usage of AI/machine learning algorithms ensures that our apps are accessible and can be adapted to the personal needs of each child. We are excited about how this grant and partnership with Microsoft will help us address significant gaps for engaging each child based on their unique strengths and abilities.”
When can I apply? Now! We are accepting submissions on a rolling basis over the next five years. Grant proposals can be submitted via the online application form. Applicants will receive a follow up email within 30-60 days.
What is Microsoft looking for in applications? We are looking for revolutionary ideas that use AI and align with any of our three areas of focus:
Employment. How can we positively impact the employment rate for people with disabilities through more intelligent technology?
Daily Life. How can we increase access to technology for people with disabilities while also decreasing the cost of such technology?
Communication & Connection. How can AI help improve the speed, accuracy, and convenience of communication for people with disabilities?
We are looking for individuals or teams who are not only passionate about making the world more inclusive, but also firmly rooted in the communities they intend to benefit. We want to see ideas that are developed by or with people with disabilities, not just for us.
What can I receive through the program? First, check that your idea meets the following criteria:
Relevance: AI and/or machine learning are core to the project success;
Impact: Clearly elevates either employment, daily life, or communication & connection for someone with a disability;
Feasible: Is deliverable in a one-year timeframe—this could be phase 1 of the project but there should be tangible deliverables completed each quarter that are wrapped up in one year;
Capable: Your team should have the knowledge and skill to deliver the idea OR you partner with someone who can fill in the gaps;
Sustainable: The project has room to grow beyond the first year of funding;
Showcase-able: We want to talk about whatever you deliver!
The AI for Accessibility program provides monetary grants as well as technology and expertise depending on the potential impact and needs of each project. This can include:
The costs of crowd-sourcing and cleaning data needed to get your project up and running;
Guidance from a Microsoft team of AI, project management, and accessibility experts who can help guide you to scale to a wide audience and deliver the impact you envision.
If you have additional questions about the awards program or the application process, please visit the AI for Accessibility FAQ.
Remember: anyone can apply! From a tinkerer in a basement to an established corporation, from students to professionals. If you are worried you don’t have what it takes, find someone who does and partner with them on an application. So, no excuses. ?
Over the past eighteen months, Microsoft has fostered a growing $115 million AI for Good initiative that puts AI in the hands of inspired individuals developing real-world outcomes that tackle some of society’s most critical challenges. Comprised of AI for Accessibility, AI for Earth and AI for Humanitarian Action, we are hopeful the world will see what a compelling force for good AI can be.
We cannot wait to see what you create by or with people with disabilitiesto empower everyone to achieve more.
If you've been paying attention to pop culture news lately, chances are you've probably seen some casting announcements for one of the new shows headed to the DC Universe streaming service. It's called Doom Patrol, and if you're totally unfamiliar with that particular wing of DC's canon, that probably sounds like a late 1960s Cold War era thriller to you. But--surprise!--it's actually just a bunch of weird superheroes. Let's break it down.
The Doom Patrol first appeared in issue #80 of My Greatest Adventure, an anthology style comic that traditionally collected up a bunch of short adventure stories. The Doom Patrol was part of a strategy to make the leap to the superhero genre; the goal was to make a serialized story that would fit in both the adventure and the superheroic wheelhouse and make the whole transition go a lot smoother. The Doom Patrol was billed as "the world's strangest superheroes" and the creators took that theme to heart. The core idea was a team of heroes who were tortured and made outcasts by their abilities, forced to live their lives as cool, pulpy explorers more in the vein of something like Jonny Quest than Superman.
Now, if you're thinking, "Wait a second, aren't 'outcast and tortured superheroes' X-Men's whole brand?" You're correct! Importantly, the Doom Patrol actually predated the first appearance of the X-Men by several months, and co-creator Arnold Drake is still not totally convinced that the X-Men weren't a subtle Doom Patrol rip-off to begin with. Comparing the two these days is a lot more apples-and-oranges than it would have been back in the '60s. And, of course, judging by just name recognition and media franchise pull, it's pretty obvious which one found more success, but hey, the more you know.
Like most superhero teams, the Doom Patrol's line-up has fluctuated over the years, but for the most part it's maintained a level of B and C list (or lower) obscurity. They started out with an original group of characters who had been created specifically to launch the Doom Patrol's first appearance: Elasti-Girl, whose powers are exactly what you'd expect; Robotman, a human reincarnated as a robot after a terrible car crash; Negative Man, a man who lost his permanent corporeal form in a radioactive accident; and The Chief, a wheelchair using genius who brought the team together. A year or so later, Beast Boy--yes, like the Teen Titans Beast Boy--was introduced and joined the team, rounding out the roster.
Their stories usually involved a healthy amount of in-fighting, soul searching and general ennui, as each person on the team wrestled with personal demons as much as actual villains--all of which were just as weird and esoteric as the heroes themselves. Bad guys like the sentient gorilla Monsieur Mallah and his disembodied brain partner-slash-lover named, aptly, The Brain, and the 100% real, actually published in a real comic book Animal-Vegetable-Mineral Man, plagued the team at every turn.
The Doom Patrol never really got off the ground popularity wise, and thanks to no shortage of DC continuity reboots like Crisis on Infinite Earths, their position in the larger DC multiverse has always been pretty variable. Famously, they were the first team in DC that ended their book with the entire roster (save Beast Boy) being "killed" in the final issue, Doom Patrol #121, which paved the way for a complicated series of retcons and reboots. They spent their most widely appreciated years as a Vertigo book, but then wound up back in the mainline DCU in the early 2000s, and have since jumped over to the Young Animal imprint for the Rebirth era. Technically, thanks to the fancy footwork of creators like Grant Morrison and Gerard Way, the bulk of the Doom Patrol's history is within continuity these days, but they're only ever tangential to bigger teams like the Justice League at the very best--and a total non sequitur at worst.
What does that mean for the upcoming streaming TV show? It's obviously pretty hard to say. By nature, the Doom Patrol deals with things that veer toward the psychedelic and the trippy, meaning we can expect to see a show that deals in a much more light (or at least surreal) tone than, say, the CW shows or even the Titans TV show. However, we do know that the Doom Patrol will in fact be spinning out of Titans in an episode specifically named after them, so we can assume that the two are definitely going to be sharing an onscreen universe. And, as was just announced at New York Comic Con, Matt Bomer (American Horror Story, Magic Mike) will star as Negative Man.
Also, with Beast Boy as part of the Titans main roster, it's extremely likely that those early years of Doom Patrol stories, in which he played a major role, are going to be heavily mined for live action adaptation. We also know that some more recent Doom Patrol characters are going to be making the jump to the small screen, specifically Crazy Jane, who was a late addition to the team. Interestingly, Cyborg is also set to appear in the show, which will be a first, as he's usually associated with the Titans or the Justice League. So when it comes to Doom Patrol, it might just be best to expect the unexpected.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-04-2018, 07:59 AM - Forum: Windows
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Chicago to pilot new project to make cities more accessible
Microsoft believes accessibility and inclusion are essential to delivering on our mission to empower everyone, everywhere. Technology can play a powerful role to empower people with disabilities. Across Microsoft, we are working to make technology more accessible – whether that is built-in accessibility features in Windows and Office 365, new tools and resources like Soundscape, Seeing AI and Learning Tools, or collaborating with organizations on initiatives to help make the world more inclusive.
Designed to help city leaders and urban planners better understand the needs of and empower people with disabilities, the new Maturity Model helps cities measure digital inclusion and track progress. Focused on a broad range of functions important to all cities, such as communications, procurement, training, and technology standards, it defines key performance indicators and metrics to support advancing accessibility. Five levels of digital inclusion maturity guide cities in assessing and tracking progress across multiple Smart Cities dimensions, e.g. technology, data, culture, and strategy.
We are honored to collaborate with the City of Chicago and two nonprofits with a history of leadership in inclusive and accessible design that are actively working to help cities advance how they utilize technology to build more inclusive communities. The leadership of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities Karen Tamley, and CIO and Commissioner of the Department of Innovation and Technology Danielle DuMerer, will create an important legacy of inclusion in Chicago. The new pilot demonstrates their continued focus of building inclusive practices into their planning and development process, a model that cities around the world will benefit from as we look at ways we can empower the more than 1 billion people with disabilities in the world.
Throughout October, we are celebrating National Disability Employment Awareness Month.
Initiatives like Smart Cities for All and the pilot project in the City of Chicago are great examples of how we can work together to help change the unemployment rate for people with disabilities, which is nearly double that of those without disabilities. Check out the blog, Empowering all people in the workplace, to learn more about our work to make technology more accessible.
We all have the responsibility to come together – across industries, sectors and geographies – to create a more inclusive world. Together we can support cities in using innovative technology to advance opportunities for everyone.
Patent troll Uniloc returned to form on Wednesday after a months-long hiatus from lobbing allegations against Apple, this time challenging the company’s AirDrop file sharing technology with a 2006 Philips patent.
Filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, Uniloc’s latest attempt to extract damages from the tech giant leverages a single patent first filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in 2000.
Invented by Jonathan Griffiths, U.S. Patent No. 7,136,999 for a “Method and system for electronic device authentication” details techniques of creating a secure environment for transferring data between two devices. In particular, the IP covers methods of providing authentication over a variety of wireless protocols including Bluetooth.
According to the patent’s first claim, an initial authentication procedure is performed over a short-range wireless link. Once authenticated, the two devices are then able to connect when out of range of the first wireless link protocol. As noted in following claims, the devices can exchange initial authentication information — a key or password — via an alternative communications link.
The USPTO issued a grant for the ‘999 patent in 2006.
The IP has changed hands multiple times since its filing in 2000, first from Griffiths to Philips Electronics that same year. It was assigned to patent aggregator IPG Electronics 503 Limited in 2009, then on to Pendragon Wireless in 2012 before landing in Uniloc’s coffers in February 2018. Uniloc Luxembourg subsequently assigned the patent to Uniloc 2017 LLC in July.
Uniloc’s U.S. licensing entity, with the recently formed Uniloc 2017, is leveraging the patent-in-suit against Apple and AirDrop.
Introduced alongside OS X 10.7 Lion in 2011, AirDrop is a first-party ad hoc protocol designed to simplify the process of transferring large files from one device to another.
Initially developed to connect two Macs over Wi-Fi, the service first appeared in the OS X Finder. Running AirDrop allowed two Macs to quickly create an ad hoc connection without need for passwords or complex network configuration. Simple drag-and-drop functionality made the system a more attractive alternative to direct link, cloud storage and similar file transfer solutions in use at the time.
Apple later extended — and modified — AirDrop to accommodate its mobile operating system with iOS 7 in 2013. Unlike legacy AirDrop technology, the revamped version employs a dual-link structure that relied on Bluetooth for discovery and token setup, and Wi-Fi for file transfers. Again, users are presented with an easy-to-use interface in Share Sheets that features automatic device discovery and tap-to-send capabilities.
It is this second iteration of AirDrop that Uniloc is targeting in its latest lawsuit.
The non-practicing entity is alleging infringement of claims 13 and 17 of the ‘999 patent, which relate to establishing a secure link between two devices through exchange of authentication information over two separate communications links. Named in the suit are all devices compatible with Apple’s current implementation of AirDrop, including all iPhones from iPhone 5 to iPhone XS Max, fourth- and fifth-generation iPads, all iPad mini generations, all iPad Air models, iPad Pro, MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Pro, the fifth-generation iPod and fourth- through sixth-generation iPod touch models.
Uniloc in its suit seeks unspecified damages, reimbursement of legal fees and other relief deemed fit by the court.
The AirDrop case is the latest in a string of Uniloc lawsuits targeting Apple technologies. In the middle of 2017, the non-practicing entity went on a spree, filing suit against the iPhone maker almost once a month.
Uniloc is one of the most active patent trolls in the U.S., leveraging reassigned patents or vaguely worded original IP against a number of tech firms including Activision Blizzard, Aspyr, Electronic Arts, McAfee, Microsoft, Rackspace, Sega, Sony, Symantec and more.
Mobile gaming has really enjoyed a resurgence of compact, clever & pretty puzzle games. That desire for a quick break on the subway or the john has merged with clean and modern hipster design and minimalistic storytelling to create a whole new genre of precious mazes you can play with one hand. Like Monument Valley and Square’s Go series among others, Where Shadows Slumber tries to give you an experience both artistic and thoughtful, wrapped up in bite-sized chunks.
The game has a conceit almost as clever as Monument Valley‘s Escher-like pathways, but more indebted to the early iOS hit Helsing’s Fire. In Where Shadows Slumber, you have to make use of light and shadow to transform the world around you. Your character carries a brilliant yellow-green lamp that throws pitch-black shadows. When cast in darkness, portions of the scene will change. Sometimes this only changes something small, like making a door appear out of thin dark. Other times, shadows will reveal a whole other world. As the shadows sweep across the screen, you’ll see new possibilities blink in and out of view. Your job is to figure out how to walk between these worlds and make it out alive.
The controls are straightforward and familiar to anyone who has played this type of game before. You can use simple single taps move your hero through single-screen mazes (or double-tap for a run) and drag on various parts of the background (light sources, blocks, platforms, or walls) to open new paths.
Like Monument Valley, a lot of the puzzles come down to figuring out what is possible to change in a given scene. You need to figure out what will shift when shadows pass over each section of the map, and then how you can get a light source into position to throw or remove those shadows. There are 35 stages in seven worlds, each a single screen long. No one stage is particularly brutal, and each will probably take less than ten minutes to puzzle through.
On top of the central twist, Where Shadows Slumber tosses all the usual maze-puzzler tools at you: sliding platforms, floor switches, impassable obstacles, and moving NPCs that can help or hinder. These additions can be nice, since it means each level has something new. At the same time, a lot of these are tossed in without much explanation, assuming you are familiar with them from other puzzle games, and then they are tossed out just as unceremoniously. It gives some variety to the puzzles, but it doesn’t give a strong sense of progression. The game never sets any expectations to the puzzle mechanics, so it can’t challenge those expectations in more advanced levels. Instead, the game is more about recognizing what the tools you’re given can do and how they affect the screen they’re on. That’s fun, but it could be more ambitious.
Given the title, one would expect the story to be gloomy, but it is also surprisingly violent; this is not a low-key puzzler you can let the kids fool around with on the iPad. Instead it’s host to a silently-told tale of pursuit and lots of seemingly random murder. The hero seems to live in a world where sad bald humans are under the thumb of cruel and capricious animal-headed monsters, which is certainly a game setting I’ve never experienced before.
Animated cutscenes break up chapters, updating us on the story of Obe and his quest to escape with his magic lantern. The atmosphere is oppressive, twisted and really effective. The music and architecture emphasize the dreariness of the environment. The common people live in run-down wooden villages while the animal overlords inhabit monolithic labyrinths. It’s dark, but also imaginative, and the hero ventures through several distinctly different environments to the conclusion.
If you’re a fan of the Square Enix Go series of puzzle games and you’ve finished Monument Valley already, Where Shadows Slumber is a good pick. The puzzles are clever, but not as varied or mind-melting as the Go series. The game’s central mechanic is cool, but it isn’t quite clever or adaptable enough to push it to instant-classic status like Monument Valley. That said, it would be hard to reach the heights of those games, and as it is, Where Shadows Slumber is an atmospheric and imaginative puzzle game.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-04-2018, 07:45 AM - Forum: Lounge
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Nintendo Switch Adding Three More NES Games Next Week
One of the benefits you receive for subscribing to the Nintendo Switch Online service is access to a library of classic NES games, all of which support online play. 20 titles are currently available on the service, with Nintendo promising to add more to the library regularly, and it turns out we won't have to wait too long for the first new batch of titles to arrive.
Nintendo confirmed on Twitter that three more vintage games are coming to Nintendo Switch Online's NES library next week, on October 10: Solomon's Key, Super Dodge Ball, and NES Open Tournament Golf. All three titles will be available in each region.
Solomon's Key is a puzzle game in which players control a wizard who can conjure up and remove blocks, and they must use that ability to collect the key in each room while avoiding enemies. Super Dodge Ball, as its name suggests, is an NES take on the sport, while NES Open is a spiritual precursor to the Mario Golf series.
If you're a subscriber to the Nintendo Switch Online service, you'll be able to download the NES - Nintendo Switch Online app for free from the Eshop or Nintendo's website. More titles will be added to the library each month. In November, Nintendo will introduce Metroid, Mighty Bomb Jack, and TwinBee; in December, Wario's Woods, Ninja Gaiden, and Adventures of Lolo will be added.
As previously mentioned, all NES games on the service support some form of online play, though in traditionally single-player titles like The Legend of Zelda, it's limited to screen sharing and "passing" control of the game back and forth. However, it might not be readily apparent how to set that up, so we've outlined how to play Switch's NES games online.
