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Microsoft’s latest HoloLens trailer looks ripped from a sci-fi blockbuster — By Matt Smith | Digital Trends

“HoloLens … is not just a headset. It’s also an API – called Windows Holographic — built by Microsoft to let developers code programs from the HoloLens itself. The company’s announcement that it’s opening Windows Holographic to partners means that they, too, will be able to build devices for its API platform. Anything that’s developed using that API should work as well on partner devices as on the HoloLens itself.”

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Elon Musk believes we are probably characters in some advanced civilization’s video game

Don’t believe me? Here’s Musk’s argument in full:

The strongest argument for us being in a simulation probably is the following. Forty years ago we had pong. Like, two rectangles and a dot. That was what games were.

Now, 40 years later, we have photorealistic, 3D simulations with millions of people playing simultaneously, and it’s getting better every year. Soon we’ll have virtual reality, augmented reality.

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Google’s late response to Amazon Echo suggests the future is voice control and virtual reality

The recent Google I/O developer conference at which the company reveals its new products and directions brought with it several surprising announcements that mark significant changes for the way the company approaches its online business.

The first was the admission by Google chief executive, Sundar Pichai, that Amazon had taken the lead in voice-activated devices when it launched Echo last year when he announced the company’s own Google Home, a similar table-top, voice-controlled AI assistant. These devices have been made possible by the rapid improvement of voice-recognition technology and AI fast enough to respond in real time to questions and answers. But under the surface, the devices are deeply integrated with the cloud, and in the case of Echo, Amazon’s online marketplace.

This is significant because Echo now boasts more than 400 different “skills” and connected suppliers through which users can order food, look up calendar appointments, pay credit card bills, search for information and many other things – just by asking with their voice. The ecosystem of companion products around these intelligent assistants is growing too: just by asking, you can switch on the lights in any room, control the thermosat, security system and fire detectors, automate perimeter doors or fences.

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Apple’s flirtation with buying HBO parent hints at content ambitions

While Amazon, Google, and Microsoft are moving forward with nextgen technologies such as VR & AR, QC, bio & nano technologies, etc used to advance areas such as Singularity and longevity.; Apples going bigger in the entertainment and media space.


Even if Apple never made an actual move to buy Time Warner, a tentative approach shows that the iPhone maker is serious about getting into media content.

Eddy Cue, who’s in charge of iTunes and Apple Music, brought up the idea of a possible deal with Time Warner corporate strategy head Olaf Olafsson in a meeting late last year, according to a person familiar with the situation. While the two never started negotiations, Time Warner, which owns HBO and the Warner Brothers studio, is on the top of the list of media companies Apple would buy should it eventually commit to the content business, the person said.

As iPhone sales slow, Apple is under pressure to show that it can grow in other areas, particularly in services. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has emphasised the expansion of non-hardware businesses such as music, the App Store and iCloud as a way of stabilising revenue.

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A Virtual Reality Manifesto: The Good, Bad, and the Ugly

Make your own universe or mouse in a box?


“I can’t wait to see the art that people make with this.”

Those were the first words from my friend Ryan after spending ten minutes in virtual reality. He’d just tried Tilt Brush, an incredible experience which allows the user to paint in three dimensions. Tilt Brush is a deeply meditative and powerful experience, allowing us to turn the space around us into glowing and shimmering works of art.

And it’s not just for tech obsessed uber nerds like me—Ryan is normally the first one to push back when I go on grandiose rants about the future of technology.

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