Light Start: Face logins, Acti-King, Star Trek returns, drone computers, and Apple indoor maps
Brett Venter
Microsoft’s Windows Hello facial logins are… pretty nifty
We’re hearing this a bit second-hand, as we have yet to get a Microsoft Surface Book or Surface Pro 4 to play with but Redmond have done some mighty impressive things with their facial biometric logins. Microsoft have made it possible for users to use their face to log into their new Windows 10 devices, and have accounted for when you’ve just locked your PC as well as people possibly using images of you to gain entry. Ars Technica has the full rundown of how the feature, called Windows Hello, works in practise. And now it’s the only thing we want on our office machines.
Activision is throwing stupid money at buying King.com
This is some kind of joke, right? We get that King.com, the games company behind Candy Crush Saga (the only game you’ve heard of from them), has a large number of users. And that they have a fair number of games, even if those games are all modifications on existing games. But was it really worth Activision paying $5.9 billion in order to purchase King.com? Activision seems to think so and they might even have a point, though they might also be making the most expensive mistake in the company’s history. To be fair, they’re likely after the Candy Crush Saga name, the company’s user-base and that pre-made mobile infrastructure which would give Activision a decent foothold in the mobile market – Activision had better not just keep the company as-is or they’re going to have a bad time. Even so, it’s not really for us to tell Activision-Blizzard what to do with their money but… Disney paid $4 billion for Star Wars. Think about that…
You can’t keep a good series down. Actually, it’s hard enough keeping a bad series down but we’re drifting away from the point. There’s a brand-new Star Trek TV series, produced by recent motion picture writer Alex Kurtzman, on the way. The series “…will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966.” Fans will be pleased. Perhaps a bit less so about the airing options: The new Star Trek will air first on CBS’ All Access streaming service before heading out to TV networks and other platforms around the world. The new series should begin airing in 2017.
DJI is making drones smarter with the Linux-powered Manifold computer addition
How much smarter do we want drones to get? According to DJI, a little smarter at the very least. That’s why they’ve announced the Manifold, a mini-PC that can be mounted on a DJI Matrice 100 drone. It’s very small, very light and will transform the drone into a “…truly intelligent flying robots that can perform complex computing tasks and advanced image processing literally on the fly.” We’re pretty sure that these drones are going to start building themselves soon. As soon as the robots figure out Ubuntu 14.04, the operating system that runs the Manifold. The Manifold will retail for $500 (R6,880) overseas, but we don’t have launch details for SA as yet.
Apple’s taking Maps inside, hopes to show you around all the places
Apple might be working on a way to let Maps show you around internal locations, like extremely large shopping centres and similar, if a (non-functioning) first-party app located over the weekend is any indication. The Indoor Survey App could be used as a basis for mapping internal locations, using RF signals and the sensors in the iPhone. This could be used to either map an area or tell you where within a previously mapped location you are – So we could be on the verge of seeing indoor mapping software for the iPhone officially released.
