Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-22-2019, 02:54 AM - Forum: Windows
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Harnessing big data in pediatric research to reimagine healthcare
For many of us, life begins in the hospital—and so does our health data. Health organizations worldwide are amassing more information than ever before from millions of patients throughout their lifetimes. Wrangling massive volumes of health data—from smart devices, medical devices, electronic medical records and community health systems—is no small task, but cloud computing offers researchers a promising way to tap into this resource to achieve meaningful medical progress and improved patient outcomes. Microsoft for Healthcare aims to do just that: harness the power of data to reimagine healthcare, improve the health of the population, and, ultimately, help save lives.
YouTube Video
Zeroing in on clues
One of the most promising examples of this is in our collaboration with Seattle Children’s Research Institute. We are working together to find clues to a persistent and tragic medical mystery that hits close to home: Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). Every year, more than 3,500 infants die of SIDS-related causes in the United States. One of these children was the son of John Kahan, my colleague and Microsoft’s chief data analytics officer. John has made it his mission for no parent to lose a child to SIDS, and with his data science team at Microsoft and our friends at Seattle Children’s, they are working toward that goal in earnest.
The team started with publicly available data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on 26 million births and deaths, and along with other data sets, studied 90 columns of data about every child born in the U.S. over a six-year period. Through this data science effort done in the cloud on Microsoft Azure, they discovered several correlations that showed statistical increases in SIDS. They then brought those findings to Seattle Children’s Research Institute, one of the world leaders in pediatric genomics and brain research— and lucky for us, right in our backyard.
Since then, we’ve been working together to expand the effort and the science, creating a collaborative genomics database for Seattle Children’s and the top SIDS medical researchers worldwide, and a world-class team of Microsoft data scientists. Together, we recently published our first manuscript from this collaboration in the peer-reviewed medical journal, Pediatrics, in which we used advanced modelling techniques to analyze the relationship between maternal smoking during pregnancy and SIDS-related deaths. Going forward, the hope is to use sequenced whole genomes as an additional data set along with the CDC data and other information in Microsoft Azure, helping to identify SIDS risk factors and, ultimately, ways to help prevent SIDS.
Similarly, we’ve been able to assist pediatric cancer researchers. Working with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and our partner DNAnexus, we’ve been thrilled to be a part of the creation of the St. Jude Cloud—a cloud-based data-sharing and collaboration environment based on Microsoft Azure that contains an extensive public repository of pediatric cancer genomics data. St. Jude Cloud stores and shares thousands of cancer patient samples mapped against the human genome template, enabling researchers around the world to access and exchange data on a global basis. Researchers from more than 450 institutions across 16 countries now have immediate access to data that previously could take weeks to download, as well as access to complex computational analysis pipelines. The availability of this data could lead to progress in eradicating childhood cancer.
Clues like these seed future research, turning mere hints into new medical and biological knowledge, diagnostics, or therapeutics. Like John Kahan, many of our data scientists have been touched personally by medical or health issues and are exceptionally motivated to help solve these puzzles.
Reimagining healthcare
Collaborations like those with Seattle Children’s and St. Jude are just the beginning. Our technology is in virtually every healthcare organization in the world, from a nurse-led clinic in Kenya to larger organizations like Kaiser Permanente in the United States and NHS Glasgow and Clyde in the United Kingdom, putting us in a unique position to build and expand solutions with cloud computing and AI.
For us, reimagining healthcare starts with finding well-defined and well-scoped problems, then bringing together the best minds from a diverse set of disciplines and people—computer science, AI and data science, bioscience and medical—to solve them.
By analyzing masses of data with trusted cloud computing, one health concern at a time, we have a chance to extract new knowledge that could make a positive difference—empowering healthcare teams, improving operational outcomes and care coordination, and personalizing care.
Join us in reimagining healthcare. To learn more about harnessing the power of health data with cloud computing, take a look at our new e-book A New Framework for Healthcare in a Digital World. For a deeper dive on Microsoft Genomics visit here.
Save up to $1,000 on 2018 MacBook Pros with these blowout deals
Exclusive
By Christine McKee Tuesday, May 21, 2019, 04:27 pm PT (07:27 pm ET)
More price drops are in, and these special markdowns are available exclusively for AppleInsider readers. Save $500 to $1,000 instantly on 2018 15-inch MacBook Pros featuring 32GB of memory and at least 1TB of storage. In addition to the lowest prices ever, shoppers can take advantage of no interest financing or a sales tax refund, further adding to the savings.
Delivering the lowest prices ever on loaded Mid 2018 15-inch MacBook Pros, these exclusive deals knock $500 to $1,000 off configurations with 32GB of memory and at least 1TB of storage. Readers can also find models with upgraded graphics for a nice performance boost over the standard 2018 spec.
Along with the exclusive savings, B&H is tacking on free expedited shipping within the contiguous U.S., so you can get up and running quickly — usually in as little as one to three business days. Special financing incentives are also available, ranging from no interest when paid in full within 12 months with the B&H Financing Credit Card to a sales tax refund in qualifying states via the new B&H Payboo Card. It’s definitely worth looking into the financing incentives, especially if you want to spread the payments out over time or live in a state eligible for the Payboo tax-equivalent loyalty rebate.
To see how these discounts stack up against the competition, be sure to check out our 2018 15-inch MacBook Pro Price Guide for up-to-date pricing across top Apple authorized resellers. At press time, these prices are the lowest available by at least $200 to $400.
How to activate the deals
These Apple deals are link-activated and require shoppers to use the special pricing links in this post or in our Price Guide from a laptop, desktop or iPad. They will not work in mobile apps, including B&H’s iOS app. Step-by-step instructions for redeeming the discounts can be found below.
Instructions: To activate the deals, simply click through the B&H pricing links above using AppleInsider’s desktop site and look for the advertised prices.
Please note: These offers cannot be activated through the B&H and AppleInsider apps at this time. If you still cannot see the exclusive prices using the desktop site, all is not lost! Need help? Send us a note at [email protected] and we will do our best to assist. Prices are set to expire on May 28.
Additional Apple Deals
AppleInsider and Apple authorized resellers are also running a handful of additional exclusive promotions this month on Apple hardware that will not only deliver the lowest prices on many of the items, but also throw in discounts on AppleCare, software and accessories. These deals are as follows:
Observation is a sci-fi thriller uncovering what happened to Dr. Emma Fisher, and the crew of her mission, through the lens of the station?s artificial intelligence S.A.M. Players assume the role of S.A.M. by operating the station?s control systems, cameras, and tools to assist Emma in discovering what is happening to the station, the vanished crew, and S.A.M. himself.
Sony has again provided some new details on its next-generation console. As part of Sony's Corporate Strategy Meeting today, the company discussed at a high level what it hopes to achieve in the future across its various business units, including PlayStation.
The two keywords for PlayStation going forward are "immersive" and "seamless," Sony said. Concerning hardware, Sony said its next-generation console, the PlayStation 5, will offer an "immersive experience created by dramatically increased graphics rendering speeds."
This will be made possible through the "employment of further improved computational power and a customized ultra-fast, broadband SSD," Sony said.
Overall, the PlayStation 5--or whatever Sony ends up calling its new console--will offer experiences that "greatly exceed" what is possible on PS4 and PS4 Pro. Sony said people can expect "completely transformative and immersive gaming experiences" on the PS5.
One of the features that PlayStation system architect Mark Cerny talked about for the PS5 is how its use of solid-state drives will reduce loading screen times.
Cerny pointed out that the fast travel loading screen in Spider-Man on PS4 took roughly 15 seconds on a PS4 Pro, but less than one second on a dev kit for the PS5. Given that the new hardware will be backwards compatible with older games, that means your load times will likely be reduced across the board when you upgrade. Check out the video below from The Wall Street Journal report Takashi Mochizuki who is attending the Sony event today to see the faster load times in action.
Sony's official video comparing performance of PS4 Pro vs next-gen PlayStation pic.twitter.com/2eUROxKFLq
Cerny also talked about how the PS5 will allow for faster rendering, which means more environmental objects and textures will populate at a faster rate. In the presentation today, Sony said the PS5 will offer "many new features" beyond these advancements to loading and rendering, though none were mentioned.
Also during the presentation, Sony said it expects the PS4 to reach sales of 100 million units by the end of the 2019 calendar year. PS4 sales currently stand at 96.8 million systems sold. PlayStation Network has 94 million monthly active users, the company said.
Additionally, Sony management talked about how streaming will play a big role in the PlayStation brand going forward. The PS5 will support Remote Play functionality, Sony confirmed, while management also said it's looking to its new deal with Microsoft for cloud-gaming solutions to play a role in the company's future success in that area. Sony of course already operates the PlayStation Now streaming service (which has 700,000 subscribers by Sony's latest count), but it appears the company has bigger and bolder plans in the future.
Sony is not attending E3 2019 next month, so the company presumably won't be announcing the PlayStation 5 there. The PlayStation 5 will have an "appealing" price point given its specs, according to Cerny, but there is no ballpark estimate yet regarding what the price may be.
Video: 10 Things We Still Don’t Know For Certain About Super Mario Maker 2
As unbelievable as it might be, there are still a lot of things we don’t know about Super Mario Maker 2. Even after all the Direct footage, in-depth analysis and information via the game’s eShop listing and website, there’s plenty to find out.
That’s why our lovely senior video producer, Alex Olney, has rounded up precisely 10 things, we still don’t know for certain about this upcoming June release. If for one reason or another you don’t have time to watch this amazing 13-minute video, here’s a brief summary of what we’re unsure about simply because Nintendo hasn’t told us, or yeah…some other reason!
Does the sequel include local multiplayer outside of course-making co-op?
Can winged Boos circling in rings now follow Mario?
The lack of amiibo costumes on display – will they actually be in the game, or not?
That Hammer Power-Up? Is it tied to the Hammer Bros. suit or is it something brand new?
A caution cone on the item wheel and a record icon were spotted in the Japanese trailer – is there custom music or a special trigger?
Extra Game Styles – are there more?
Playing as other characters in single player, will it be allowed?
Can you swap items on item wheels?
How will downvotes work in the game?
Where is that weird and tall-looking mushroom that makes Mario look hilarious?
What do you think? Can you provide answers to our questions in the comments below? Watch the above video and share your thoughts.
Spider-Man: Far From Home Teaser Clip Confirms Major Spoiler
When it comes to spoilers in Spider-Man: Far From Home, Marvel Studios and Sony aren't being anywhere near as cautious as with Avengers: Endgame. A new promo manages to spoil something major that was hinted at in an earlier trailer, which is impressive since the clip in question is only five seconds long. If you don't want to be spoiled, now's when you should stop reading.
The promo confirms that MJ (Zendaya) finds out Peter Parker's (Tom Holland) secret identity as Spider-Man, making her the second of Peter's school friends to realize he has extraordinary powers--the other being Ned (Jacob Batalon). The video was caught by a user on Twitter, who shared it.
This plot twist was first hinted at in the latest Spider-Man: Far From Home trailer, in which MJ confronts Peter with his secret identity, telling him, "It's kind of obvious." Still, given the Marvel Cinematic Universe's reliance on secrecy and misdirects in trailers, it was hard to believe this is how the story would go.
In the latest clip, though, it's clear that not only does MJ know, she figured it out on her own. What remains to be seen is precisely how she figures it out. Granted, Spider-Man does seem to go wherever Peter does and conveniently pop up as soon as he disappears. So perhaps it's not that hard to figure out.
Spider-Man: Far From Home sees the cast of the first movie return, along with the first appearance of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and Cobie Smulders as Maria Hill since they popped up in Endgame. Another intriguing new addition is Jake Gyllenhaal as Mysterio. While traditionally, Mysterio has been a villain in the comics, the trailers thus far have painted him as a hero from a parallel dimension. Still, we're convinced he's lying and turns out to be the villain of this particular story.
Spider-Man: Far From Home is in theaters on July 2.
Resident Evil 4 On Switch Is Missing Something Pretty Major For Nintendo Fans
We’re currently playing our way through Resident Evil 4 for our review, and while the prospect of once again enjoying what is perhaps the zenith of the entire franchise has pleased us greatly, there’s one thing missing from the Switch port: motion control.
It would seem that Resident Evil 4 on Switch is very much a straight conversion of the PS4 and Xbox One HD update from a while back, and no attempt has been made to factor in the motion controls that made the Wii edition of the game so appealing.
While alternative control options are available in-game, none of them enable motion control — something that could have been replicated quite easily thanks to the unique nature of the Joy-Con controllers.
You can’t really blame Capcom for this; directly porting the existing HD version is clearly the easiest option, and only a small portion of the user base on Switch will even notice the lack of motion input, but it still means that this isn’t quite the ‘definitive’ version of the game.
Capcom could, of course, patch motion controls in at a later date, but does it need to? Let us know your thoughts with a comment below.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 05-21-2019, 02:09 PM - Forum: Windows
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‘Gears of War’ 2019 Funko Pop! collection available May 23
The next wave of Gears of War Funko Pop! figures are about to hit store shelves this Thursday, May 23! As we announced earlier this month, the mainline collection includes Kait Diaz in her winter gear from last year’s Gears 5 trailer, Marcus Fenix in his classic gear, Queen Myrrah, the Locust Boomer and the GameStop exclusive Skorge.
But that’s not all! Also releasing on Thursday is a limited-edition Collector’s Box which includes four Gears Pop! pins, a Gears Pop! baseball hat, a Gears Pop! artbook and four limited release Pop! figures: a red Skorge with shaded details, a gold-dipped of Marcus Fenix, a patinaed Myrrah, and Anya Stroud. The Collector’s Box is available exclusively at GameStop (in-stores and online) with limited quantities at EB Games, Sportscard Australia, select retailers throughout Europe and at E3.
All of these Pop! figures include a digital code for the upcoming Gears Pop! mobile game, which releases later this year. The code can be redeemed to your Xbox Live account starting May 23 – once the game has launched, the specific content associated with the code will unlock as it is released in game.
For more information on the Gears franchise, stay tuned to Xbox Wire, and to keep up to date with the latest information about Gears Pop!, you can visit www.gearspop.com and follow @GearsPop on Twitter.
CD Projekt Red talks Cyberpunk 2077 crunch, vows to be ‘more humane’ to devs
“I think this is the commitment we’re ready to make today, and we’ll be listening to people. We definitely open a lot of lines of dialogue here, and we’d like to start with that.”
– CD Projekt Red leadership says speaking publicly about crunch acts as a public commitment to treat its devs humanely
CD Projekt Red’s co-founder Marcin Iwiński and studio head Adam Badowski approached Kotaku to discuss how the studio aims to tackle crunch as development of Cyberpunk 2077 enters its final laps.
Crunch is a persistent topic of conversation in the game industry, but stories about the practice are typically born out of burnt-out developers coming forward as opposed to studio leadership reaching out to the press. Iwiński, however, says the proactive approach aims to act as a public commitment that “we want to be more humane and treat people with respect.”
On the topic of crunch, Iwiński vows that the final stretch of Cyberpunk 2077’s development will “be better than The Witcher’s finishing period,” in the very least. He tells Kotaku that the studio is pushing its existing “non-obligatory crunch policy” even harder this time around and ensuring developers know that crunch isn’t mandatory, even when they’re directly asked to work nights and weekends. (Though, as past stories on crunch often point out, there are many ways crunch can become an implied requirement even without a direct mandate.)
The full Kotaku article has a detailed account on which promises CD Projekt Red would and wouldn’t commit to during the conversation. For instance, Iwiński wouldn’t say much of the specifics of the crunch that has happened so far, or promise to limit crunch to set periods of time. Instead, he reiterates that opening up to the press aims to act as a public commitment to the team working on Cyberpunk 2077.
“We’ve created a lot of force functions for us to improve,” Iwiński told Kotaku. “Making this commitment, I hope it shows that we are treating this matter very seriously.”
Kotaku’s Jason Schreier points out that the proactive approach may aim to preempt a potential investigation similar to the one the site published on BioWare’s Anthem in April. Schreier notes that four former CD Projekt Red devs reached out to Kotaku following that Anthem story to say they’d seen similar labor practices while working on Cyberpunk 2077.
