This is the Surface Studio, Microsoft’s new all-in-one PC

Microsoft unveiled the Surface Studio Yesterday, an all-in-one PC with a 28-inch PixelSense display, with the thinnest display ever built according to Microsoft and a 3:2 display ratio. It also has an Intel Core processor, with a 2TB hybrid hard drive and an NVIDIA GPU, as well as integrated 2.1 speakers and a haptic feedback controller puck device.

The computer has a unique hinge on the back designed to make it more flexible for creative pursuits, and Microsoft’s Panay Panos said onstage it’s designed to “fundamentally change” the way people create.

The Studio has a touchscreen, 32GB RAM, a 2TB hybrid drive that combines HD and SD storage, four USB 3.0 ports, Ethernet, Audio, SD and Mini DisplayPort (no Thunderbolt) and the new radial input Surface Dial with haptic feedback. The speakers, ports and drive are contained in the base, which is a short, square box that lies between the chrome supports under the display.

Surface Studio’s display is designed to immerse the user as much as possible, according to Panay, which includes using 13.5 million pixels to make for a 192 PPI density that doesn’t reveal individual pixels no matter where you’re viewing from, according to Microsoft. The display also includes a feature Microsoft is calling TrueColor, which Panay says allows creators to “render the world… as he or she believes it needs to be rendered.”

What this means is that you can change your color space on the fly, meaning a filmmaker working in DCI-P3 can easily switch to sRGB to see how their content will look on TVs that don’t support the wider P3 color specification.

The display also features something called “True Scale,” which allows it to display print products at actual scale on the screen. “One inch on the screen is one inch in real life,” Panay said onstage at Microsoft’s product reveal on Wednesday.

Surface Studio’s hinge, which consists of two chrome arms attached to the base, is also designed to be reflective on purpose to further help it “fade to background,” according to Panay. It’s an interesting tactic for trying to reduce the user’s awareness of the actual hardware itself, and one that sounds a bit more like marketing hype than effective measure.

The Studio’s display includes a “linear mic array” that’s able to pic up a user’s voice from across the room, making it essentially an integrated Echo-like speaker thanks to the inclusion of Cortana in Windows 10.

Surface Studio also supports Surface Pen, making it an amazing option for graphics professionals. The Surface Dial works with the screen intelligently, giving you software tools like color sliders in various apps.

The hinge is designed to easily let you go from upright to flat working device without resistance, and the Surface Pen support really helps make that True Scale feature very appealing. It basically means you can write in full speed (the latency looks incredibly low) on a 1:1 8.5×11 piece of virtual paper on the screen.

Onstage, Panay also introduced and demonstrated the Surface Dial. It’s designed a new input device, in line with but different from things like mice and keyboards. Dial has global controls built-in, meaning they work throughout Windows at the system level. The Dial can work either laid out on the desk like a keyboard, or placed directly on the display, as in the image above. It’ll have different functions depending on which way you’re using it. Surface Dial also works with Surface Book, Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 for off-screen functions.

 demo of the Surface Studio’s creative prowess included a demo from Madefire founder Ben Wolstenholme, who used it to create a thumbnail for an animated comic for his app. Wolstenholme explained how he used to do the same workflow on paper and in multiple steps, but he can now do it entirely digitally right on the Surface Studio, complete with assigning handy shortcuts like zooming for detailed inking to the Dial.

“It’s amazing to me that Surface Studio makes it possible for me to have my entire creative workflow in one place,” Wolstenholme said.

Surface Dial is open to developers, letting them create on-screen use cases that make it possible to use it to do things like change color while you’re actually in the act of digital painting, or adjusting scale and switching between tools on the fly.

The Surface Studio is available for pre-order now, and will arrive in Microsoft Stores for hands-on demos starting October 27. It’s going to ship in limited numbers by this holiday season, and is priced starting at $2,999.

The Sirius A is a full desktop PC that fits in your pocket

Forget hulking tower PCs, here's a Windows 10 machine so small you can fit it in your pocket.

Despite it's phone-like appearance, the Sirius A, made by Dutch hardware firm Ockel, runs a desktop version of Windows 10 and has the ports needed to be hooked up to a monitor, keyboard and network.

Currently seeking funding on Indiegogo, the mini-PC also includes a six-inch touchscreen, 1080p display for use on the go, 64GB in-built flash storage, a microSD booster slot, 3.5mm audio port and a 3,000mAH battery.

But unlike a smartphone, the Sirius A also comes with two USB 3.0, a USB Type-C, HDMI, DisplayPort and Ethernet ports, as well as a 12V power input for when it is used as a desktop. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity are also included.

To ensure Windows PC software runs on the device, the Sirius A ships with Windows 10 Home 64-bit as an OS, and packs an Intel Atom quad-core processor with 4GB RAM.

Cooling is provided by a heatsink built into the aluminium casing and the Sirius also houses an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer.

Another possible forthcoming feature is called "switch mode", which Ockel says it's working on with Microsoft to allow the device to function as a mouse or keyboard when attached to a display.

One downside for those hoping to use the portable device, measuring just 85mm x 150mm, on the go might be the battery life, which last about three hours under casual usage.

The campaign for the Sirius A has already passed its $100,000 target, raising $261,371 from 495 backers so far and has 22 days left. During the campaign period, prices start at $549, however the device will sell for $699. Ockel is hoping to ship the finished product in May next year.

Last year Ockel released the Sirius B, which has similar specs to the Sirius A but lacked a touchscreen display.

While somewhat novel, a pocketable Windows 10 device isn't entirely new. The recently released HP Elite X3 allows users to dock the six-inch phone and link it to a monitor and keyboard. The Windows Phone device can run Windows 10 apps and a limited Windows 10 desktop. However, the phone is slightly more expensive, selling for $799.

Lenovo Announces its Latest Generation Gaming PC - All in One

Gaming PCs have been one of the best-looking things you can buy right now and Lenovo has only carried that notion forward. Its newest gaming PCs then, no surprises, look other-worldly and have enough power too.

IdeaCentre Y710 Cube

The IdeaCentre Y710 Cube, following the philosophy of Mac G4 Cube, is a system which is easy-to-carry and has a handle on top. It weighs just 7.4 kilograms and has multiple LEDs on the front.

Under the hood, you get a 6th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, up to a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080, and up to 32 GB of RAM. You also get a storage of up to a 256 GB SSD, or a 2 TB hard drive. Lenovo says this should be enough for 4K gaming, VR and high-quality streaming.

You also get Dolby Audio, 4 USB ports and Killer DoubleShot Pro Wi-Fi. There is also an option to buy it together with Lenovo’s mechanical keyboard and precision mouse. Pricing starts at $1299 for the version with GTX 1070 though we know where most of the cost in going.

IdeaCentre AIO Y910

The second machine Lenovo announced was the all-in-one IdeaCentre AIO Y910. This one comes with a 27-inch borderless display on the front with QHD (2560 x 1440) resolution.

The hardware is the same at a 6th generation Intel Core i7, up to a GTX 1080 GPU and 32 GB of RAM.

Pricing starts at $1799. Both these systems will be available in October.

This Tiny Computer Runs on Radio Waves Powered wirelessly & hasn't battery

No matter how smart and fast your devices would be, the biggest issue is always with the battery technology.

Whenever you go to buy any electronic gadget — smartphone, laptop, or any wearable — the most important specification isn’t its processor speed or its camera quality but its Battery Backup, which is not getting better any time soon.

What if you could eliminate the very thing entirely?

Well, that's exactly what the electrical engineers from the University of Washington has developed.

A team of researchers from the University of Washington’s Sensor Lab and the Delft University of Technology has developed a new gadget that doesn’t need a battery or any external power source to keep it powered; rather it works on radio waves.

So, this means you have to turn on your radio every time to keep this device charged. Right?

No, you don’t need to do this at all, because the device sucks radio waves out of the air and then converts them into electricity.

Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform

Dubbed Wireless Identification and Sensing Platform (WISP), the device is a combination sensor and computing chip that uses a standard off-the-shelf RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) reader to suck in radio waves and convert them into electricity.

Though the WISP is not designed to compete with the chips in your computer or even your smartphone, it has as much processing power as the Fitbit, which is enough to run sensors and transmit data.

The discovery could highly transform the Internet of Things (IoT) world as the WISP is even more low maintenance compared to Bluetooth Low Energy sensor chips being used today.

The next step in making the WISP usability even more convenient and easy is to create Wisent that would allow for wireless programming of the WISP. For this, the team has recently collaborated with the Delft University of Technology.

With the help of Wisent, the WISP can be programmed wirelessly and uses the very same radio waves to communicate.

"So far WISP required cables to reprogramme it, nullifying the advantage of battery-less-ness. Therefore, we present Wisent, a protocol that allows WISP to be reprogrammed wirelessly," said Przemysław Pawełczak, assistant professor at the TU Delft’s Embedded Software group.

"Our vision is to have truly wirelessly reprogrammable software-defined battery-less computers wherever and whenever we want."

For more details, you can head on to the research paper [PDF].

Though the ultimate aim of WISP is in fully realizing the Internet of Things and giving "dumb" objects some smartness, it might even find its way into smartphones as a sort of emergency backup calling module that works even when your phone’s battery is dead.

However, there is no detail on when the WISP will be made available for purchase, or how much it will cost.

Microsoft Brings in Cross-Platform Multiplayer Gaming for PC, PS4 and Xbox Users

The console wars might comprise of never ending battles between Xbox One and PlayStation 4, but Microsoft’s recent announcement has made things interesting again. Xbox Live, Microsoft’s Xbox-only online multiplayer and matchmaking service, is now open to all other platforms. The Redmond-based company  just made sure that gamers on all platforms, including PC and consoles such as Xbox One and PS4, will come one step closer to being united with one another, as far as online play is concerned.

Microsoft Announces cross-network play between Xbox One and PS4; competitive gaming sessions to be expected in the future

According to Microsoft’s announcement, Xbox and PC game developers will have the ability to integrate cross-network play in their games based on Xbox Live service. That means Xbox One, PS4 and PC players can clash with Nintendo players in the multiplayer games built to support it. This is definitely the biggest announcement of 2016 for the gaming community as it was being contemplated for a very long period as to when will gamers be able to unite, or draw skirmishes between one another. Apart from a few exceptions, competitive play has never been possible between PC and console players or Xbox and PlayStation players for that matter.

Rocket League is one of the first games to support cross-platform play

According to Xbox Wire, the primary subject being talked about is cross-network play, and Chris Charla, Director of ID@Xbox had this to say:

“First, in addition to natively supporting cross-platform play between Xbox One and Windows 10 games that use Xbox Live, we’re enabling developers to support cross-network play as well. This means players on Xbox One and Windows 10 using Xbox Live will be able to play with players on different online multiplayer networks – including other console and PC networks.

Of course, it’s up to game developers to support this feature, and Xbox Live players will always have the option of choosing to play only with other Xbox Live players. We’re thrilled to confirm that Psyonix’s Rocket League will be one of the first games to take advantage of this new capability by enabling cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players, with an open invitation for other networks to participate as well.”

The message that Charla is evidently trying to give away here is that door is wide open for developers to support such a feature. Rocket League, the popular car soccer game from Psyonix has already been confirmed for cross-network play between Xbox One and PC players and it is expected that PS4 console gamers will join the loop soon enough.

Before you get excited, you have to be reminded that the decision to support cross-network play all comes down to the developer. Platform exclusive gaming titles are extremely common, primarily due to the agreements signed by the developing companies and publishers, but this time, developers will have complete autonomy on either linking the chain that brings gamers together, or breaking it. Developers can push out a title update in the days ahead for their existing games that can take advantage of cross-platform play.

PlayStation 4 is Bringing Console Gaming Streaming To PC and Mac

Sony PlayStation is the bestselling gaming console of the current generation devices. The PlayStation 4 has maintained its superiority over competitors like Xbox and Nintendo by regularly offering big updates that improve the user’s gaming experience. Today marks another big step towards improving console gaming. Sony has revealed that the upcoming PS4 firmware update will make PS4 playable on PCs and Macs via streaming. Currently, the streaming feature called Remote Play can also stream games on the PS TV and PS Vita.

Those familiar with Sony products must be aware that Sony offers a Remote Play feature for its Sony Xperia devices. The feature allows those with Xperia products to stream PlayStation games to their phone or tablet over WiFI and play them via the standard PlayStation controller.

The upcoming version 3.50 software update for PS4 will add the ability to “Remote Play” PS4 games on a home computer, effectively turning a laptop or desktop with mediocre specs to a remote PlayStation powered gaming machine.

Not so long ago, Microsoft announced that Xbox One gamers will be able to stream games to PC thanks to the updated Xbox app. That feature was, for obvious reasons, limited to Microsoft Windows PCs and not Apple devices. This new announcement is just in time to nullify Microsoft’s superior feature.

This addition is not a reply to Microsoft’s screen sharing feature. President of Sony Worldwide Studios, Shuhei Yoshida, had made the announcement a while back. In November last year, he tweeted “Some people asked if we plan to provide Remote Play function to PC, and yes, we are indeed working on an official application for PC/Mac”.

Sony says the feature will not be available in the beta release of the 3.50 update. So early adopters won’t be able to test the feature in advance. However, the company’s blog post says “you can look forward to it soon”.

There are several others inclusions in the major update. It brings online friends notifications, which will let the gamers know when their friends are online to play games. To complement the feature, users will now be able to appear offline (invisible) when they are gaming alone or busy with something else. The Play Together feature will allow friends to join game parties or start new games together in more simpler manner.

Sony’s also bringing scheduled updates to PS4 which will make the process of organising future game meetups much easier. Dailymotion is being added to the Share feature and users will be able to check their storage using PlayStation Plus. Sadly, there is still no support for external storage devices.

The beta version of the update has been released while the stable release should be coming soon after.

Maru OS : One OS for PC & Android

Good News for Linux Techno Freaks! Do you usually mess with your Android smartphone by trying out the continual ins and outs of various apps and custom ROMs?

Then this news would be a perfect pick for you!

What If, you can effectively carry a Linux computer in your pocket?

Hereby introducing a new Android-based Operating system named "Maru OS" that combine the mobility of a smartphone as well as the power of a desktop on a single device.

Maru OS allows you to turn your smartphone into a desktop when plugging it with an HDMI cable.

Maru custom ROM includes two operating systems:

• Android 5.1 Lollipop for mobile phones
• Debian-Linux for desktop monitor

When you connect your phone (with Maru OS installed on it) via HDMI to a monitor, it will load Debian Linux automatically on your desktop screen in less than 5 seconds.

"Your phone runs independently of your desktop so you can take a call and work on your big screen at the same time," Maru OS official website explains.

Maru is shipped with Zero Bloatware (no pre-installed apps), which facilitates lots of free space for all your apps and your phone runs fast.

Advantages of Maru OS

• Dual OS in phone
• Multi-Tasking
• Lightweight Distro Packages
• Zero Bloatware, except Google Play
• Run a web server from your pocket
• You can set up a portable development environment

And the Best One:

If by chance… your phone get disconnected from your screen, Maru OS will preserve your desktop state in the background, helping you pick up right where you left off.

"Your hardware's capabilities are shared across your mobile device and desktop, so you don't have to context-switch around so much," reads the website.

This latest OS is still in beta stage and currently available only in Nexus 5 devices. We hope this limitation might disappear later on.

Google Quantum Computer : 100X Faster than a PC

Announcing the results of its experiment, Google says Quantum Computer is More than 100 Million times faster than a regular PC.

Two years ago, Google and NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) bought a D-Wave 2X quantum computer, which they have been experimenting at the U.S. space agency's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California for the past two years.

The goal is to create a better way to solve highly complex problems in seconds rather than years.

Now, a Google's Quantum AI team appears to have announced the results of its latest test on D-Wave 2X quantum computer, demonstrating that quantum annealing can outperform simulated annealing by over 108 times – that is 100,000,000 times faster.

What is Quantum Computers?

Quantum computers can theoretically be so much faster because they take advantage of quantum mechanics. While traditional computers use the "bits" to represent information as a 0 or a 1, quantum computers use "qubits" to represent information as a 0, 1, or both at the same time.

In turn, this allows Quantum computers to achieve a correct answer much faster and efficiently through parallel processing.

Google's D-Wave 2X Quantum Computer:

Now, the Google Quantum Artificial Intelligence Lab has announced that its D-Wave machine is considerably much faster than simulated annealing – quantum computation simulation on a classical computer chip.

"We found that for problem instances involving nearly 1000 binary variables, quantum annealing significantly outperforms its classical counterpart, simulated annealing. It is more than 108 times faster than simulated annealing running on a single core," said Hartmut Neven, Google's director of engineering.

Google: Our Quantum Machine is 100 Million Times Faster

Google has also published a paper [PDF] on the findings, claiming that the team was able to perform a calculation with the quantum computing technology that was significantly faster than a conventional computer with a single core processor.

The researchers emphasized that their research on quantum computing is still in the early stages and has yet to be commercialized which could take decades.

"While these results are intriguing and very encouraging, there is more work ahead to turn quantum enhanced optimization into a practical technology," Neven wrote.

However, the team of Google and NASA researchers announced on Tuesday that the tests on D-Wave machines using Quantum Monte Carlo algorithm simulates running an optimization problem on ordinary silicon, and again the results were more than 100 Million times faster than a conventional computer