AnnouncementTotal 9 articles, created at 2016-04-17 18:00

1 10 Important Takeaways From Facebook's F8 DevelopersConferenceFacebook used its F8 developers conference to prove that it is more than a socialnetworking service. Here is a look at what else Facebook is doing. 2016-04-17 16:16 1KBwww.eweek.com

2 Leveraging the Cloud for Your DevOps WorkloadsEnterprises are finding that Platform as a Service (PaaS) is more than a toolset fordevelopers and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) 2016-04-17 17:24 732Byteswww.itworldcanada.com

3 Hadoop for the Enterprise: Making Data ManagementMassively Scalable, Agile, Feature-Rich, and Cost EffectiveMany business drivers—from the need to scale big data and traditional enterprise data,the need for more economical data platforms, a demand 2016-04-17 17:24 1KBwww.itworldcanada.com

4 Sony extending closure of image sensor plant in quake-hitsouthern JapanAccording to reuters, electronics giant Sony Corp on Sunday said production at its imagesensor plant in Kumamoto, southern Japan, remained suspended as it assessed damagefrom a powerful earthquake. Operations at its image sensor plants in Nagasaki and Oita,also on the southern Japanese... 2016-04-17 09:51 1KB pctechmag.com

5 The Internet of Things: Opportunities and Applicationsacross IndustriesThe opportunity for a broad range of industries to take advantage of the Internet ofThings (IoT)—the plethora of network-connected devices that 2016-04-17 08:23 1KBwww.itworldcanada.com

6 U. S. Buyers Rank IBM, Cisco, HP, AT&T, and Google asLikely Most Effecitve Top 5 Providers in Delivering IaasThe range of players competing in the market for providing cloud services are using abroad set of different types of business 2016-04-17 09:31 1KB www.itworldcanada.com

7 Improving the State of Affairs With AnalyticsPublic sector organizations of all types and sizes generate and encounter anunprecedented amount of data coming at them from all directions—citizens,2016-04-17 09:31 1KB www.itworldcanada.com

8 Whacking away with the smart baseball batWe take our hacks with a high-tech bat that promises to improve a hitter's swing.2016-04-17 00:00 3KB www.cnet.com

9 We need to stop talking about how difficult Dark Souls isAnd start talking about how it uses failure to make fun. 2016-04-16 20:30 6KBwww.pcgamer.com

ArticlesTotal 9 articles, created at 2016-04-17 18:00

1 10 Important Takeaways From Facebook's F8 DevelopersConference

The 2016 edition of Facebook's F8 developersconference that took place April 12-13 was anopportunity for Facebook to not only unveil newproducts, but to also show that it can think beyondsocial networking. In fact, during his keynoteaddress, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg spentlittle time talking about social networking, focusinginstead on the new things his company hasplanned. At F8, Facebook announced newchatbots for its Messenger platform, demonstratedits commitment to connect more people around theworld to the Internet, and made abundantly clearthat it believes virtual reality and artificialintelligence are the industry's next frontiers. In many ways, Facebook's F8 showcased to theworld how much bigger and how much more of a threat the company is to traditional technologygiants than initially believed. Read on to find out more about the F8 conference and theannouncements that have both startups and major companies interested to see what Facebookdoes next. Suffice it to say that Facebook has high hopes for the future.

2016-04-17 16:16 Don Reisinger www.eweek.com

2 Leveraging the Cloud for Your DevOps Workloads

Enterprises are finding that Platform as a Service (PaaS) is more than atoolset for developers and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) can be more thana place to host apps. Instead, IT departments can use the cloud to redefine thecontinuum of development and operation s— a process that is known asDevOps.

2016-04-17 17:24 www.itworldcanada.com

3 Hadoop for the Enterprise: Making Data Management

Massively Scalable, Agile, Feature-Rich, and Cost EffectiveMany business drivers—from the need to scale big data and traditionalenterprise data, the need for more economical data platforms, a demand forlonger data life span, greater competitive pressure and more—point toHadoop as a solution for the enterprise. That’s why the Hadoop adoption hasaccelerated over the past two years and continues to rise.

On a technical level, the need for a data platform that scales up to handle exploding volumes, ascalable extension for existing IT systems in warehousing, archiving and content management,and the need to get BI value out of non-structured data are pointing to Hadoop. Meanwhile, theneed for business to derive value out of big data is also causing enterprises to look at Hadoopas a computational platform for business analytics.

2016-04-17 17:24 www.itworldcanada.com

4 Sony extending closure of image sensor plant in quake-hit

southern JapanAccording to reuters , electronics giant SonyCorp on Sunday said production at its imagesensor plant in Kumamoto, southern Japan,remained suspended as it assessed damagefrom a powerful earthquake.

Operations at its image sensor plants inNagasaki and Oita, also on the southernJapanese island of Kyushu, fully resumed, thecompany said.

The Kumamoto plant has been offline sinceFriday, while operations at the Nagasaki and

Oita plants were partially suspended on Saturday.

A 7.3 magnitude tremor struck early on Saturday morning, killing at least 32 people, injuringabout 1,000 more and causing widespread damage. It was the second major quake to hitKumamoto province on the island of Kyushu in just over 24 hours.

2016-04-17 09:51 PC Tech pctechmag.com

5 The Internet of Things: Opportunities and Applications

across IndustriesThe opportunity for a broad range of industries to take advantage of theInternet of Things (IoT)—the plethora of network-connected devices that enable“things” to collect and exchange data—is here and now, according to JasonMann, director of Industry Product Management at SAS. Still, many companiesare slow to recognize and act on this opportunity.

He notes that Gartner puts the IoT at the top of the “hype cycle.” Many are talking about it, butmost companies haven’t gotten very far. “The opportunity is there,” Mann tells the InternationalInstitute for Analytics. “And people aren’t seizing it yet.”

2016-04-17 08:23 www.itworldcanada.com

6 U. S. Buyers Rank IBM, Cisco, HP, AT&T, and Google as

Likely Most Effecitve Top 5 Providers in Delivering IaasThe range of players competing in the market for providing cloud services areusing a broad set of different types of business models and represent a widespectrum of different types of brands, according to IDC. But what are today’senterprise’s top buying choices and why?

This IDC study excerpt provides the results of a buyer/demand-side survey ofU. S. enterprises with 1,000+ employees, involving more than 400 respondents, on theirperceptions of the preferred business models and service providers–outsourcers from whichthey would want to procure private or public cloud & IaaS.

2016-04-17 09:31 www.itworldcanada.com

7 Improving the State of Affairs With Analytics

Public sector organizations of all types and sizes generate and encounter an unprecedentedamount of data coming at them from all directions—citizens, businesses,government agencies and departments—and encompassing countless areas.But without a fast and reliable way to capture and understand this big data,these organizations cannot hope to operate efficiently.

Many states have been able to use data and analytics to make governing more effective,strengthening fraud detection, enhancing child welfare services and improving health outcomes.They have shown that it can deliver citizen services faster and more cost effectively, and that itcan boost public safety.

2016-04-17 09:31 www.itworldcanada.com

8 Whacking away with the smart baseball bat

I was game for this assignment.

For weeks I'd been hearing about atechnologically advanced bat that's designed tohelp baseball and softball players improve theirswings. The Smart Bat, which hits the marketsoon, has a sensor integrated into the handle thatmeasures your hand speed on a swing and theresulting impact. The data is transmittedwirelessly to a smartphone.

It didn't take long for sweat to roll down myforehead.

WHACK ...

I play competitive softball at least twice a week, and I played American Legion baseball in highschool, but I didn't know how my swing would stack up against a pro's. So the Zepp teammeasured it against their standards.

My swings were consistently between 60 and 70 miles per hour. I even hit 77 a couple of times.

Respectable, the Zepp team told me, adding that the data could help me get better.

"The data eliminates the guessing," said Pat Nicholson, a Zepp executive. "It can help you getbetter, faster. "

The average bat speed of a Major League Baseball player is between 70 and 80 mph, but thatvaries. Mind you, I was hitting off a tee, and not against a big league pitcher, so that's why myswings were considered respectable. They weren't something I'd go around bragging about.

The Smart Bat isn't just for weekend warriors like me. Los Angeles Angels outfielder Mike Trout,an all-star who's arguably the best player in baseball, has partnered with Zepp to develop thebat. Trout, who didn't respond to a request for comment, used it during spring training.

"I have learned how crucial technology has become in sports performance," Paul told me in arecent email. "It's really very exciting. "

Data about how a batter is swinging streams to "Smart Coach," an app that offers video tipsfrom big leaguers, including Trout and Chicago Cubs hitting coach John Mallee. A new versionof the sensor, Zepp 2, which can also track golf and tennis swings, hit the market earlier thismonth for about $150.

Last year, Trout and Zepp designed the new Smart Bat sensor that's built into the bat itself. Theplacement inside the bat's handle provides more-precise measurements of a swing and is lessof a distraction than the original sensor because batters don't see it. The company, which has

approached Major League Baseball and the players association, hopes the bat might be usedin actual games.

Trout, renowned for his fast, compact swing, can tell when his is off by "even a hundredth" of asecond, says John Hauer, who helps run Zepp's product team and worked with Trout on the bat."He's that mechanical. "

Zepp's technology is also being used by the Arizona Diamondbacks, Miami Marlins and SanDiego Padres.

"They've helped us understand the sports science and the blueprint of a successful swing," saidHauer. "We're able to translate that into the hardware and software. "

At Zepp Labs, I continued swinging ferociously. Hauer eventually showed me a 3D rendering ofmy swing on my iPhone. The Zepp team encouraged me to keep my hands back and open myhips more to generate more power.

After another 30 swings, I hit 77 mph again. "Good impact, repeat that," said Lisa Beachy, aZepp spokeswoman. "You have quick bat speed. "

"Really, dude? " I asked.

WHACK ...

My final swing registered 73 mph.

Heads nodded in approval.

2016-04-17 00:00 Terry Collins www.cnet.com

9 We need to stop talking about how difficult Dark Souls is

I’m not surprised to see so many playersdiscouraged by this perspective. It’s an inclusive,reductive way to categorize the game. Yes, thegames are hard, they’re cryptic, and not easy toget into, but the difficulty is just one component ofwhat makes each Dark Souls game so cohesiveand intriguing, a buttress for the feeling ofembarking on a long journey. And along theway, death turns into an excuse for playfulexperimentation, and the unpredictable drama ofonline interactions set the stage for stories thatno other medium can.

I’ll never forget my first look out over Dark Souls 3’s Lothric from a perch in the high castle—theCathedral of the Deep, cloudy Irithyll, the visible rot of the Undead Settlement. I wasn’t certain I’dsee much of it. But I wound up snaking my way through it all, and at one juncture, I went down.Like, beneath-the-crust down. And at a point in that detour, I discovered a makeshift ladder andwent down further still. What I found didn't just speak to the true state of the world, but spoke tothe nature of it on a fundamental scale, spelling out in piles of charred, petrified demons thateven chaos has a lifespan in this world.

Getting there wasn’t easy, and I’m happy for it. Because every enemy has the potential to killyou, an overriding tension piggybacks every step further into the world. With my shield up, I tip-toed through the first time, scrutinizing every nook of the environment. If I didn’t feel the need forcaution and studied the environment like I did, it’s likely I would have missed out on the subtlecues that spurred me downward on my descent. I wouldn’t have noticed the sway and fragility ofthe rope bridge I cut to make a ladder. I wouldn’t have been able to make the connectionbetween the Smouldering Lake and and the Ash Lake from the original Dark Souls. I wouldn’t

have had any revelation about the unspoken story of this world and the centuries of historybetween. Difficulty is leveraged to encourage players to pay close attention, and significantlyrewards that attention with story details, treasure, and the sense of a long, arduous distancetraveled.

But a few threats aren’t observable. PvP invasions initially turned me away from Dark Souls. Ididn’t like the spontaneity of a skilled player seeking me out in an already threatening, albeitrigid world. In time, I’ve learned that the environments are a large stage on which the actors(players defined by their covenant roles) embark on improvisational journeys of trust, deceit, andsurprise.

Reddit user PuppetShowJustice recalls

a particularly tragic tale on the /r/darksouls3 subreddit. To summarize, he’s summoned as aMound Maker, a purple phantom whose ambiguous role is to help or murder their host. Hedecides to earn the trust of his host, helping kill enemies all the way until the boss door, whichMound Makers cannot pass through. The host summons a Sun phantom to help them with theboss, who sees the Mound Maker, assumes they’re evil, and attempts to kill them. The hostemotes with reckless abandon in a futile effort to get the Sun phantom’s attention, but themessage is lost. To save his purple friend, the host leaps off a cliff and dies, sending both thephantoms back to their own worlds.

In my experience, I’ve chased helpless hosts across the Farron Keep swamp only for bluesentinels to show up at the last second and chase me back the same way. I’ve disguised myselfas a statue in a bid for surprise. (The host player had it figured out immediately, and in a playfulgesture, used the same spell to turn into a statue as well. We danced and skittered around asstatues for a good five minutes before I bowed and returned to my world.) I’ve helped first timeplayers finish some of the hardest bosses time and time again, not because I get a few minorcovenant rewards, but because I know they might be frustrated. Dark Souls’ covenants don’tgive you a rigid online role to inhabit, and like the solo journey, they encourage playing aroundwith the potential within each. The result is a spontaneous, unpredictable cluster of human dramawith a lighthearted edge—everyone wants to find their fun.

Good thing it’s so easy to find fun in a dark fantasy toy box. When death in Dark Souls strips meof small achievements, like progress through the environment and collected souls, I have nothingleft to lose. I’m free from dread and consequence, I know what’s ahead, and I’m ready to throwmyself at it. The fulcrum for challenge shifts from evading death to embracing it. Death is anopportunity to find chinks in the armor of a boss, a better strategy for taking on a group ofenemies, or to test out new armor set with different resistances. The fulcrum becomes how muchI’m willing to experiment and play with the tools provided, and there are plenty: dozens of armorsets and weapons, over 100 rings with accompanying buffs and debuffs, spells, pyromancy,summons, and more.

What felt impossible and overbearing a few minutes ago might remain a challenge, but now Itreat it like a playground for experimentation. With enough nihilistic creativity, there’s always away through.

Dark Souls’ difficulty is not about being a ‘real gamer’ or ‘gitting gud.’ It’s the foundation for avariety of unique experiences that require a bit of strain and experimentation to reach. And whilea series of perfectly timed dodge rolls or sword swipes can be immensely satisfying, the bulk ofthe Dark Souls community’s fascination doesn’t begin and end there. The Dark Soulscommunity cares about manners. Should we expect to begin every invasion duel with a friendlybow? They care about deciphering the lore. Who the hell is Pontiff Sulyvahn and why is he sucha mean pope? They care about rolling into every wall and jumping off every ledge until there’snothing left to know about Dark Souls (god forbid). It’s the fervent desire to know somethingcompletely—its physical space, abstract rules, social (dis)courtesies, and deep lore—thatshould be the brightest signal light for wary players.

2016-04-16 20:30 James Davenport www.pcgamer.com

Total 9 articles.

Created at 2016-04-17 18:00