Microsoft's Hololens got an Update

With VR products such as the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Google's new Daydream platform dominating the news in recent weeks, Microsoft wants you to remember that its HoloLens augmented reality headset still has some skin in the game.

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Oops! Microsoft Does Accept Bitcoin Afterall

In December 2014, Microsoft added Bitcoin as a payment option, courtesy of Bitcoin processor BitPay, for a variety of its gaming and mobile content. On Saturday, a simple message titled “Microsoft Store doesn’t accept Bitcoin” was spotted on Microsoft’s website, and naturally some interpreted that as meaning support for the digital currency had ended. We asked Microsoft for clarification, but the company only got back to us today — with an explanation that it was all a mistake.

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The MicroSoft Store has Stopped Accepting Bitcoin

Microsoft has silently removed support for Bitcoin in the Windows 10 Store, despite the fact that the company adopted the digital currency in late 2014 with much fanfare.

Although an official statement from Microsoft is not yet available – we’ve reached out to the company for a word on this and will update the article when we get it, an update made to the Windows Store FAQ reveals that Bitcoin is not accepted anymore when buying content from Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile stores.

“Microsoft Store doesn't accept Bitcoin. You can no longer redeem Bitcoin into your Microsoft account. Existing balances in your account will still be available for purchases from Microsoft Store, but can't be refunded,” the update, which applies to Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile, reads.

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Hololens News: Dev Kit and Demo

Microsoft showed off a basic game Project X Ray," it has been developing for its Hololens system.  It gives some ideas on what could be done.  LARPing looks like it could get really interesting.

The developer kit is going to cost $3,000.

eh? Prior Art Where art Thou? Google Patents Hologram Enabled Glasses

Google Glass may have dropped off the radar, but Google is still hard at work on the project behind closed doors. The tech giant has recently filed for a new patent that enables the wearable head-gear to display holographic projections.

Instead of the flat display beamed into the wearer’s eye with the current generation, the new patent would allow for a device to overlay CGI on top of the real world, to create a three dimensional heads up display. This technology would open up Google Glass as an augmented reality platform, offering something a little closer to Microsoft’s Holo Lens. The new design also apparently allows for a wilder field of view, is more efficient and easier to wear.

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I have to wonder how Hololens works with this patent.  Microsoft has been working on this for at least seven years.

MicroSoft Claims to Have Developed Quantum Computer Proof Encryption

The new quantum-proof version of TLS generates encryption keys using a different mathematical problem that’s believed to be beyond the practical reach of both conventional and quantum computers.

That system was tested by using it to encrypt data moving between two PCs, one taking the role of a Web browser and the other a Web server. The quantum-proof encryption protocol moved data 21 percent more slowly than a version using elliptic curve cryptography, as some websites do today, but the researchers consider that penalty a reasonable one to pay if their idea is polished up for real-world use.

Ari Juels, a professor at Cornell Tech and previously chief scientist at the security company RSA, says it makes sense to prepare our encryption for quantum computers now. Outdated encryption lingering in websites or software already causes security problems, even with the relatively slow progress made on encryption-beating attacks, he says.

However, right now it’s not certain that the math used in Microsoft’s quantum-proof software will always be intractable for either quantum or conventional computers, says Juels. Mathematicians and cryptographers haven’t studied them as intensely as they have RSA or the encryption used today. “We’ve no solid assurance,” he says.

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Digital Assistant Wars Have Begun: MicroSoft Porting Cortana to IOS, Android

Microsoft is working on an advanced version of its competitor to Apple's Siri, using research from an artificial intelligence project called "Einstein."

Microsoft has been running its "personal assistant" Cortana on its Windows phones for a year, and will put the new version on the desktop with the arrival of Windows 10 this autumn. Later, Cortana will be available as a standalone app, usable on phones and tablets powered by Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iOS and Google Inc's (GOOG.O) Android, people familiar with the project said.

"This kind of technology, which can read and understand email, will play a central role in the next roll out of Cortana, which we are working on now for the fall time frame," said Eric Horvitz, managing director of Microsoft Research and a part of the Einstein project, in an interview at the company's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. Horvitz and Microsoft declined comment on any plan to take Cortana beyond Windows.

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Some see a deeper game.

Magic Leap CEO: Microsoft HoloLens Augmented Reality UnHealthy!

Microsoft's recently announced futuristic holographic headset may pose a health risk to users, according to the CEO of Magic Leap, a secretive augmented-reality startup and newfound rival to Microsoft in the burgeoning AR space.

Microsoft's HoloLens uses an input system that does not fully replicate the physical connections between our eyes and our brains, possibly resulting in permanent effects on your brain, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz wrote Tuesday in a Reddit AskMeAnything thread when asked about the device. As such, Abovitz recommended avoiding use of the headset and others like it.

"There are a class of devices (see-through and non-see-through) called stereoscopic 3D. We at Magic Leap believe these inputs into the eye-brain system are incorrect -- and can cause a spectrum of temporary and/or permanent neurologic deficits," Abovitz wrote, when asked how his company's technology compares to the HoloLens.

"I personally experienced a number of these stereoscopic-3D issues -- and would not wear these devices -- especially knowing that digital light-field systems are on the way and safe," he added.

Abovitz, of course, has a horse in the race. Magic Leap, which was virtually unknown until October, is designing its very own so-called augmented reality system that will create 3D objects and overlay them onto a standard scene, like in the palm of your hand or around your living room. Though, Abovitz says that his company's device will use "digital light-field signal technology that respects the biology of the human eye-brain system in a profound and safe way." Magic Leap has scooped up almost $600 million in funding, with Google leading the charge.

Microsoft, meanwhile, became the unlikely face of AR in January when it showed its HoloLens headset and impressed journalists (myself included) with full-blown demos that felt reasonably close to the envisioned final product. The HoloLens appears to work similarly to Magic Leap's technology by blending artificial light with the light your eyes receive from the real world, mashing the two scenes into one and creating life-like 3D objects and environments at scale.

Yet there is a dispute whether Microsoft's HoloLens is functioning the same as Magic Leap's purported technology. Magic Leap has refused to show off its device, and neither company has fully expressed how its devices generate 3D images -- be it through light blasted directly on to your eyes, a visor with projector-like technique or a full display in an enclosed headset.

The distinction is key to Abovitz's accusation, though Microsoft declined to explain whether his description of HoloLens was accurate. Instead, a Microsoft spokesperson said to look to its annual Build developers conference in April, "where we will share more details." Alex Kipman, who heads up the HoloLens project at Microsoft, notably name-dropped Magic Leap at the January 21 unveiling of the HoloLens, saying Microsoft was open to collaborating with others on the technology. Abovitz said Tuesday his company "had other plans."

The lack of information about such products, especially so with Magic Leap and its insistence on secrecy, has created an aura of mystery around AR and VR unrivaled in the tech industry. How these devices function, what they're actually doing to our eyes and our brains and what, if any, are the side effects remain open questions.

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Microsoft Hololens

     

   

Wired's review.

An easy to use developer toolkit is really, really key.  Otherwise this will be another Google Glass.

Microsoft now Accepting Bitcoin

Bitcoin’s much-discussed potential as a financial ‘Rosetta Stone’ has been boosted by the news that tech behemoth Microsoft is now beginning to accept the cryptocurrency as a payment method.

A new article in Microsoft’s billing help section details the limitations of the new arrangement, which allows users to purchase apps, games and digital content for use with Windows and Windows Phone and also Xbox games, music, or video content. Users cannot currently pay directly via Bitcoin, but must use a new ‘redeem bitcoin’ option in the payment process to add credit to an existing Microsoft Wallet account. Furthermore the scheme is ‘currently’ not available outside the United States.

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Microsoft Embraces Robopocalypse, Deploys Robot Security Guards

Robots are increasingly replacing humans in a variety of mundane tasks, like bolting a car together or making lollipops, but now they are moving into the security business.

Microsoft recently installed a fleet of 5-feet-tall, 300-pound robots to protect its Silicon Valley campus. The robots are packed with HD security cameras and sensors to take in their organic, protein-based surroundings. There’s also an artificial intelligence on board that can sound alarms when the robot notices something awry. It can also read license plates and cross-reference them to see if they’re stolen.

The K5 robots come from a California company called Knightscope, which calls the robots “autonomous data machines” that provide a “commanding but friendly presence.” Sounds like something a robot manufacturer would say.

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Government of China Conducting Man-in-the-Middle Hacking on Apple I-Cloud and Microsoft Using Great Firewall

After previous attacks on Github, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, the Chinese authorities are now staging a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack on Apple’s iCloud.

We have posted previously about MITM attacks on Google and Github and broke the news about the recent attack on Yahoo. Refer to the appendix at the end of this post to see technical evidence of the attack.

This case is different, however, for a few of reasons.

Wikipedia defines a man-in-the-middle-attack in the following way:

The man-in-the-middle attack...is a form of active eavesdropping in which the attacker makes independent connections with the victims and relays messages between them, making them believe that they are talking directly to each other over a private connection, when in fact the entire conversation is controlled by the attacker.

This is clearly a malicious attack on Apple in an effort to gain access to usernames and passwords and consequently all data stored on iCloud such as iMessages, photos, contacts, etc. Unlike the recent attack on Google, this attack is nationwide and coincides with the launch today in China of the newest iPhone. While the attacks on Google and Yahoo enabled the authorities to snoop on what information Chinese were accessing on those two platforms, the Apple attack is different. If users ignored the security warning and clicked through to the Apple site and entered their username and password, this information has now been compromised by the Chinese authorities. Many Apple customers use iCloud to store their personal information, including iMessages, photos and contacts. This may also somehow be related again to images and videos of the Hong Kong protests being shared on the mainland.

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Google, Bing add Bitcoin Exchange Rate to Instant Search Results

Bitcoin continues its march into the mainstream with yet another big name thinking the crypto-currency is worth its attention. This time, however, it's not a retailer agreeing to accept Bitcoin, but Google integrating Bitcoin into its instant answers.

If you want to find out how much 20 bucks will currently get you in Bitcoin, just type in "20 USD in BTC" (or speak it using Google Now) to get the answer. Google's currency exchange feature allows you to mix and match any currencies you want. If you've got an Italian vacation coming up and want to know how many Euros a Bitcoin will get you, Google can help.

Bing actually beat Google to the punch on this one and has supported Bitcoin exchange rates for some time. But with Google owning close to 70 percent of the U.S. search market, Google's acceptance puts Bitcoin exchange rates in front of a much larger audience.

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*THIS*IS*NOT*A*SUPERCOMPUTER*

Let me state this is my opinion and only my opinion NERSC does not necessarily agree with me. Frankly, IDK what they think on the matter.

This is NOT a supercomputer.

Let me say that louder:

This is NOT a supercomputer.

64 cores is around 16 processors. Once this would have been a supercomputer, like when I first got involved back in the early 90s. Nowadays when the fastest machines have 38k+ cores, 64 is nada. STOP with the inane marketing, folks.

I really, really mean: JUST STOP! You're embarrassing yourselves.

HPC is a moving target and this, this "supercomputer" picture above is a server and nothing more.