Microsoft

(PhysOrg.com) -- Kinect, Microsoft's attempt to bring motion controls to the Xbox 360 video game console, is soon to have a non-commercial SDK released for it that will hopefully allow third-party developers to create new uses for the motion-based system, some of them may even be outside of the world of gaming.

The non-commercial SDK is being developed by a team led by Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft, and is expected to be released to developers as a free download at an as yet undetermined date in the spring of this year.

The SDK is expected to give developers access to the system application programming interfaces and the audio system, as well as granting direct control of the Kinect sensor itself.

Microsoft also has plans to release a commercial version of the SDK at a later date. The free version will be a kind of an SDK starter kit, designed with users from the academic research community and enthusiasts in mind.

For those of you not familiar with the device, Kinect is the motion-based control system that was launched for the Xbox 360 in November of 2010. It uses a camera bar in order to allow users to interact with the games. Kinect currently retails for $150. The device has a fairly large user community, with more than 8 million Kinect devices sold in its first 60 days on the market.

The Kinect device has already had several attempts to hack it made public, with varying levels of success. For example, one successful hack exploited the USB connection which allows the device to connect to the Xbox 360.

Software news

South Korea's biggest mobile phone carrier has devised a smartphone application to revive a flagging custom -- raising the national standard over homes on important holidays.

The application automatically displays the distinctive "Taegeukgi" flag on the wallpaper of phones in standby mode on national holidays, such as March 1 and August 15.

March 1 commemorates heroes of the independence movement against Japanese colonial rule, and August 15 is the anniversary of liberation in 1945.

"We developed the application to rekindle the custom of hoisting the national flag," Lee Joo-Shik, head of new business at SK Telecom, told Monday's Korea Times.

"As we are in the mobile era where many people have smartphones on hand we determined that these devices could be a means of raising the flag."

The app also provides instructions on how to hoist a real flag as well as information on the history and design of the Taegeukgi. An MP3 file of the national anthem is included.

On the day before the virtual flag is to be hoisted, the app uploads a posting on the user's Twitter or Facebook account, and sends messages to his or her friends on social networks to encourage people to remember the event.

Iphone

Argon, the augmented reality web browser, available now on iPhone

February 23, 2011 By David Terraso

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Blair MacIntyre and his Augmented Environments Lab developed Argon to move the Web into the world. It does so by taking video from the phone’s camera and rendering graphical content on top of the video to provide users with an experience that merges space with cyberspace. Credit: Rob Felt/Georgia Tech

You’re in a bookstore checking out the bestsellers. You scan the book with your iPhone camera and immediately see information floating in the air, provided by the store’s information channel. You add your own book club channel to the view, overlaying additional reviews from friends and other relevant information from shopping sites on the Web.

While skimming the book reviews, you notice a note that looks as if it’s floating in the air on your personal channel, reminding you about a nearby restaurant you’ve been meaning to visit. You buy the book and head to lunch, looking forward to reading a bit over lunch before heading back to work.

No, this isn't you in 20 years --- it's a scenario possible in the very near future thanks to a new technology designed to bring the Web off your hand-held device and into the real world. Developers hope to port Argon to other platforms, such as Android, in the near future.

“Our goal is to provide a foundation for millions of Web developers to begin writing applications so they can provide users with new experiences that are unique to the world of AR,” said Blair MacIntyre, KHARMA project director and associate professor in the School of Interactive Computing at Georgia Tech. “Basically, we want to move the Web into the world.”

The Argon mobile augmented reality browser was developed with funding support from Alcatel-Lucent through its University Innovations Program.

"Alcatel-Lucent is actively involved in supporting open standards across mobile and fixed devices to enable consumers and business users to enjoy rich communication anywhere, anytime and over any device. Our participation as a project sponsor in Georgia Tech's development of the world’s first open standards-based mobile augmented reality browser is an example of that," said Marc Goodman, director of Alcatel-Lucent's University Innovations Program.

Augmented reality allows people to view the physical world with computer media overlaid on top of it. The approach is often suggested as a way of adding information to the world and improving the way that people can interact with that information, but can also be used for games, art or any imaginable application where the media content relates to nearby people, places or things.

Argon marks the first significant step in marrying the power of the Internet to the world of augmented reality. Until now, most AR applications had to be developed and deployed on the user’s mobile device, limiting the reach of the technology. Commercial attempts at creating more general AR browser platforms have offered limited content and interaction options. 

What makes Argon different from standard mobile Internet browsers is its ability to put content out into the world. Argon takes video from the phone’s camera and renders graphical content on top of it. With this initial release, any content that can be displayed in the iPhone’s Mobile Safari Web browsercan be pushed out into the world on virtual billboards. Other content can be created using forms and Javascript. Future releases will also include support for a range of 3D content.

“Basically, there are lots of little programs that provide the ability to use AR to put some information out in the world around you. Some, like these early browsers, also allow users to contribute content, but none allow the full range of dynamic content, control and interactivity of the Web, with everything hosted on your own servers,” said MacIntyre.

By building on top of open Web technologies and standards, the KHARMA development platform opens the door to AR applications with a full range of possible interactivity, collaboration, Web mashups and connections to cloud services that users and developers have come to rely on.

For example, rather than just displaying the locations of businesses or other nearby places, you can customize the content delivery as you desire. When you use the browser to view the channel for a theater, the channel might display the movie times, allow you to view previews of the films, or create in-browser games and interactive experiences tied to the movies you choose. Those games might be collaborative with other nearby viewers, or with people at another theater across town or across the country. The possibilities are endless.

“If you look at the history of any media, such as film or the Web, initially the content creators are the same people who created the technology,” said MacIntyre. “But at some point that begins to change, and tools come along that allow many people to begin to work with the technology. When that happens, we begin to discover what the medium is truly about. With the KHARMA specifications, and the Argon browser, we want to put AR into the hands of the millions of people who know how to create websites, and hopefully take a step toward understanding the potential of AR.
”

Gaming wars go mobile

February 17, 2011 by Sebastien Guine

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The chief executive officer of Sony Ericsson, Hans Vestberg, speaks on February 14 during the opening of the 3GSM World Congress in Barcelona. Sony Ericsson packed a PlayStation pad into its latest smartphone, unveiled this week at the mobile industry's annual get-together in Barcelona.

The video game wars are going mobile.

Sony Ericsson packed a PlayStation pad into its latest smartphone, unveiled this week at the mobile industry's annual get-together in Barcelona.

And rival Microsoft swiftly replied by offering an Xbox link to lure gamers to its Windows Phone operating software.

Sony Ericsson opened the new front on Sunday, the eve of the mobile show here, revealing the widely anticipated Xperia Play, already dubbed the PlayStation phone.

Powered by Google's latest Android system, Gingerbread, the classic-looking black smartphone stands out from its Android rivals in one respect: it has a slideout PlayStation gaming panel.

It is the first PlayStation certified mobile, and the gaming pad will be familiar to gamers who know PlayStation I, II, III and PSP with the same basic layout of buttons and controls.

Nevertheless, "we're not competing really with the consoles," said Sony Ericsson product planner Christoph Jabs at a stand surrounded by Experia Play phones for people to test.

"It's a different offer. This one is a phone. The performance of the phone is important. Then we offer a better game experience."

The PlayStation phone, to be launched early April is aimed at 20-30 year olds rather than younger users because it will be pricey at about 600 euros ($800) if sold without phone operators' subsidies.

For Jabs, it's ideal, for example, "if you have 2O minutes waiting for the doctor."

Games will be downloadable from Android Market for about 5-10 euros.

Microsoft, which already offers some Xbox games on its Windows Phone 7 operating system, replied Monday by offering greater integration to lure players.

A connection with the Xbox will be available in a major Phone 7 update from about March, chief executive Steve Ballmer said, roughly the same time that Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play is due out.

Interaction with Xbox will allow a "richer experience," said Microsoft France mobile division chief Olivier Ribet.

For example, it would allow a player to start a game on the smartphone and continue it on Xbox, or for multiplayer games in which some players are on their smartphones and others on Xbox.

Other manufacturers are in pursuit.

South Korea's Samsung unveiled its Galaxy S II, touted as the world's thinnest smartphone at 8.49 millimetres (0.3 inches).

It features a "3-axis gyroscopic sensor", which Samsung says allows new gaming possibilities with titles available from partners such as Gameloft and Social Network Games
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Software

Champions shaping up for browser battles

February 18, 2011

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A screen displays the logo of the open-source web browser Firefox in 2009 in London. Google on Friday released a revved-up version of Chrome as rivals Microsoft and Mozilla beefed up their own champions for the competitive Internet browsing software arena.

Google on Friday released a revved-up version of Chrome as rivals Microsoft and Mozilla beefed up their own champions for the competitive Internet browsing software arena.

In keeping with the arrival of the lunar year of the rabbit, Google product managers Jeff Chang and Li Chan touted the latest test version of Chrome as "quick as a bunny."

The latest Chrome release came a week after Microsoft fielded an Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) "release candidate" boasting improvements in speed, security, privacy, and website graphics capabilities.

IE9 had been downloaded more than two million times as of Friday, according to Ryan Gavin, the senior director of the IE team.

"We are especially excited to see the number of partners and developers embracing IE9 and taking advantage of the performance capabilities," Gavin said in a blog post.

Mozilla last week released a test version of its Firefox 4 web browser with enhancements that included a "Do Not Track" feature people could use to signal websites that they don't want their online activities recorded.

"We've continued our work to improve performance and stability, while also implementing a 'Do Not Track' privacy feature to provide more control over online behavioral tracking," Mozilla said.

Firefox debuted in 2004 as an innovative, communally crafted open-source browser released as an option to Internet Explorer.

Google last month released extension software for its Chrome browser that lets users opt out of being tracked by a growing set of companies adopting industry privacy standards regarding online advertising.

"Keep My Opt-Outs" lets people opt out of having snippets of code referred to as "cookies" installed on their computers to track online behavior for the purpose of targeting ads.

Microsoft "Tracking Protection" was built into IE9, but users need to be savvy enough to activate the feature and create lists of the third-party websites that they do not want to track their behavior.

Internet Explorer is the most widely used Web browser in the United States followed by Firefox, Chrome and Apple's Safari
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US state scrutinizes Google search tactics

US state scrutinizes Google search tactics

February 16, 2011 by Glenn Chapman

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The top attorney for the state of Texas on Wednesday revealed a list of demands for inside information intended to ferret out whether Google abused its power in the online search ad arena.

The top attorney for the state of Texas on Wednesday revealed a list of demands for inside information intended to ferret out whether Google abused its power in the online search ad arena.

Texas attorney general Greg Abbott wanted names of people responsible for Google ads, search results, and business relations along with internal documents and minutes from meetings at the California firm.

The "civil investigative demand" paperwork dated July 29 of last year stated the intent was to investigate "the possibility of monopolization in the market for Internet search advertising."

Abbott's office would not discuss whether Google had complied with the demands.

"We're continuing to work with the Texas attorney general's office to answer their questions and understand any concerns," Google said in an email response to an AFP inquiry.

"Since we started Google we have worked hard to do the right thing by our users and our industry, and while there's always going to be room for improvement, we're committed to competing fair and square."

Google is focused on delivering the most relevant results and ads to users, said deputy counsel Don Harrison who disclosed Abbott's antitrust inquiry more than five months ago in a blog post.

"Our focus is on users, not websites," Harrison said.

"Given that not every website can be at the top of the results, or even appear on the first page of our results, it's unsurprising that some less relevant, lower quality websites will be unhappy with their ranking."

The more than 50 requests itemized on three pages included any documents related to the manual override of search results generated by Google's automated algorithm, as well as the blacklisting of any websites.

Google's dominance of the multi-billion-dollar online search market has put it in crosshairs of regulators concerned it might abuse its position.

The US Justice Department is reportedly considering a court challenge to Google's $700 million acquisition of travel information company ITA Software.

Federal antitrust lawyers were said to be examining whether acquiring ITA, which powers many of the Web's most popular travel sites, would give the Internet search giant too much sway over the online travel industry.

Online travel firms have urged the US authorities to block the deal.

ITA, a 500-person firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, specializes in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.

Its QPX flight data organization tool uses algorithms to combine flight information from airlines, including pricing and availability, to create a searchable database.

QPX software is used by online travel agencies and airlines. Microsoft's Bing search engine, Kayak, Orbitz and TripAdvisor are ITA customers.

Italy's antitrust authority in January closed a probe into Google for alleged abuse of its market position, saying it accepted pledges made by the search engine to provide greater transparency.

European Union regulators in November launched a full-frontal attack on Google, formally opening an antitrust probe after rivals accused the Silicon Valley giant of rigging the online search market.

Smaller companies accused Google of "unfavorable treatment" of their services in both unpaid and sponsored search results, the crucial listings that make the Web navigable
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technology news

IBM computer, Jeopardy! champ tied after first day

February 15, 2011 by Chris Lefkow

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The IBM supercomputer, named "Watson" seen here, is playing two games of Jeopardy! over the next three days against Ken Jennings, who holds the show record of 74 straight wins, and Brad Rutter, winner of $3.25 million in prize money.

An IBM computer displayed a few quirks but played to a draw on the opening day of a man vs. machine showdown with two human champions of the popular US television game show Jeopardy!.

"Watson," a supercomputer named after the founder of the US technology giant Thomas Watson, and human contestant Brad Rutter each had $5,000 after the first day of the three-day match.

The other human player, Ken Jennings, was trailing the pair with $2,000.

Watson, represented on stage by a large computer monitor, was frequently quicker to the buzzer than Rutter and Jennings, correctly answering questions in its artificial voice.

Jeopardy!, which first aired on US television in 1964, tests a player's knowledge in a range of categories, from geography to politics to history to sports and entertainment.

A dollar amount is attached to each question and the player with the most money at the end of the game is the winner. Players have money deducted for wrong answers.

In a twist on traditional game play, contestants are provided with clues and need to supply the questions.

Watson receives the clues electronically by text message at the same time as they are revealed to the human contestants. The first player to hit the buzzer gets to answer the question.

Watson showed an impressive grasp of the Beatles songbook.

"What is Maxwell's silver hammer?" replied Watson to the clue "Bang, bang, his silver hammer came down upon her head," a reference to the Beatles song.

"What is Eleanor Rigby?" Watson answered correctly to the clue "She died in the church and was buried along with her name, nobody came."

Watson at one point built up a commanding lead with $4,000 to $200 each for Rutter and Jennings.

But the machine then began to slip up, oddly repeating a wrong answer to a question Jennings had already answered incorrectly.

Jennings wrongly identified the 1920s as the decade during which thecrossword puzzle and the Oreo cookie were introduced.

Given its chance, Watson also said in the 1920s.

"No, Ken said that," Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek admonished Watson. 

Rutter then answered correctly -- the 1910s.

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L-R: Contestant Brad Rutter, Jeopardy host Alex Trebek and contestant Ken Jennings. An IBM computer displayed a few quirks but played to a draw on the opening day of a man vs. machine showdown with two human champions of the popular US television game show Jeopardy!.

On another question, about a one-legged US Olympic champion, the clue was "It was the anatomical oddity of US gymnast George Eyser who won a gold medal on the parallel bars in 1904."

Watson replied "What is a leg?" instead of "What is missing a leg?"

"Watson's very bright, very fast but he has some weird little moments once in a while," Trebek said.

Watson, which is not connected to the Internet, plays the game by crunching through multiple algorithms at dizzying speed and attaching a percentage score to what it believes is the correct response.

Watson, which has been under development at IBM Research labs in New York since 2006, is the latest machine developed by IBM to challenge mankind -- in 1997, an IBM computer named "Deep Blue" defeated world chess champion Garry Kasparov in a six-game match.

Developing a supercomputer that can compete with the best human Jeopardy! players, however, involves challenges more complex than those faced by the scientists behind "Deep Blue," according to IBM researchers.

Watson uses what IBM calls Question Answering technology to tackle Jeopardy! clues, gathering evidence, analyzing it and then scoring and ranking the most likely answer.

"You are about to witness what may prove to be an historic competition -- an exhibition match pitting an IBM computer system against the two most celebrated and successful players in Jeopardy! history," Trebek said to kick off the show.

Jennings holds the Jeopardy! record of 74 straight wins while Rutter won a record $3.25 million on the show.

The winner of the Jeopardy! showdown is to receive $1 million. Second place is worth $300,000 and the third place finisher pockets $200,000.

IBM plans to donate 100 percent of its winnings to charity. Jennings and Rutter plan to give 50 percent of their prize money to charity.

(c) 2011 AFP