Apple declares iPhone 5 obsolete six years after launch
By AppleInsider Staff Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 09:06 pm PT (12:06 am ET)
As this year’s cutting edge iPhone XS and XR handsets ship to rave reviews, Apple quietly declared its six-year-old iPhone 5 — itself once considered the world’s most advanced smartphone — obsolete.
The iPhone 5 was added to Apple’s “vintage and obsolete” product list on Tuesday, noting the hardware is now considered vintage in the United States and obsolete in the rest of the world. Devices that fall into the “vintage” category, defined as products in production for more than five years but less than seven, are excluded from ongoing repair support except in regions where local laws preclude such prohibitions.
Mac Otakara noted the addition to Apple’s product support document on Wednesday.
Apple debuted iPhone 5 at a special media event in 2012. The 4-inch handset was the first of Apple’s smartphones to move away from the 3.5-inch screen size that dictated iPhone’s form factor for five device generations. Apple has since embraced a looser stance on designs with larger screens, a trend toward “phablets” that culminated in this year’s 6.5-inch iPhone XS Max.
Along with a larger Retina display, iPhone 5 introduced a number of technologies, some of which, like the proprietary Lightning port, are still in use today. The handset was Apple’s first to support 4G LTE connectivity and its last to sport a 32-bit A-series chip. Apple cut off iOS support for iPhone 5, and other legacy devices with 32-bit processors, when it released iOS 11 last year.
Apple routinely obsoletes legacy devices as new hardware versions take their place.
Open Source Forum is an invitation only event (request an invitation required – deadline is Nov. 23, 23:59, JST) that will be held in Japan annually. The event is designed to advance the open source industry in Japan by bringing the hottest open source technology topics and people together to collaborate.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-31-2018, 10:39 PM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
This month on Bing: election info, NFL answers and more
This October, we’re excited to announce several new features at Bing.
Multi-perspectives on ballot initiatives
With the midterm election a week away, we want to make it as easy as possible to find the information you are looking for about measures on the ballot.
We try hard to make well-educated decisions when we vote, but we live in a world overloaded with information. With Bing’s multi-perspective answer, we hope to help voters understand the full range of arguments for or against key propositions by clearly presenting and summarizing the main arguments on each side.
For example, Colorado voters can stay up to date on Proposition Y (redistricting limitations), or Proposition 111 (payday lending practices) while voters in Florida can view for and against arguments for Amendment 9 (offshore drilling) and Amendment 4 (felons’ voting rights).
Covering more than 75 measures nationwide, Bing gives voters the information they are looking for before heading to the polls on November 6.
A new way to view and browse images
We’ve updated the UX of the image detail page on Bing desktop to more easily highlight new and relevant information about images you click on. For example, if you’re searching for images of food, Bing will automatically find recipes associated with that image, presenting the information in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. Looking for outfits or costumes? Bing will help you find related product pages where you can purchase the item you are looking for. The intention behind these changes it to make it easier than ever to find relevant information and inspiration for your image-based searches.
We’ve also extended these UX changes to our new visual search results page, where you can search using an image as an input. Whether you’ve uploaded an image yourself or are browsing the web, Bing’s object detection features can help you more easily zoom in on particular parts of the image which you might want to search, learn more about, or buy.
NFL expanded
With the NFL season in full swing, we’ve come up with even more ways for football fans to stay on top of their game. No matter what information you’re looking for, Bing presents a comprehensive picture of each game with stats, schedules, viewing information, injury reports, news, and even predictions.
Additionally, Bing’s pre-game insights provide specialized notes that guide both new and experienced football fans on the history of the teams and the matchup, as well as what to watch for in the current showdown.
Word of the day
Finally, as we’re approaching the new year—we want to give everyone a fun and easy opportunity to expand their vocabulary. Bing’s new word of the day is simple way to expose yourself to new words and concepts. Learn the featured word’s meaning, pronunciation, and see the word in context. You can also navigate through the words for the past week to catch up on words you may have missed.
Tomorrow’s word? That’s a surprise!
We value your feedback
As always, we value your perspective, and one of the best ways for you to provide it is via the Bing Insider Program, which gives our users the opportunity to provide feedback to Bing engineers and partner teams via monthly calls, Insider events, interactive feedback sessions, and more.
Please register here to become a Bing Insider. Even if you don’t join today, the website is full of great content featuring our Insiders as well as new Bing features. We hope you enjoy the new site and come back often.
Nintendo Releases Updated List Of Switch Top-Sellers
Nintendo has released its latest round of global sales data as of September 30, and once again its slate of first-party games ran the field. While the top five Nintendo Switch games all continued their steady success and remained in place relative to each other, the bottom half of the list was scrambled by some newcomers that have joined the list.
The biggest change is from Mario Tennis Aces, which rocketed to number six on the list with 2.16 million copies, after debuting in the number ten spot as of June 30. Kirby Star Allies, which cracked the list in March figures, has now tied Arms for the number seven slot at 2.1 million. The re-release of Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze also made the list with 1.67 million.
On the 3DS the list is less dynamic. All ten games have retained their exact positions as the system puts out fewer new releases, and the pace of new purchases appears to have slowed as well. Between March and September, for example, Pokemon X/Y sold an additional 50,000 copies. That's steady success for a franchise that has already sold in the tens of millions, but the system is definitely starting to show its age. Check below for the full list.
Nintendo Switch
Super Mario Odyssey -- 12.17 million
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe -- 11.71 million
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild -- 10.28 million
Splatoon 2 -- 7.47 million
1-2 Switch -- 2.64 million
Mario Tennis Aces -- 2.16 million
Arms -- 2.10 million
Kirby Star Allies -- 2.10 million
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze -- 1.67 million
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 -- 1.53 million
3DS
Mario Kart 7 -- 17.04 million
Pokemon X/Y -- 16.29 million
Pokemon Sun/Moon -- 16.10 million
Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire -- 14.06 million
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 10-31-2018, 04:39 PM - Forum: Windows
- No Replies
Microsoft expands AccountGuard defending democracy program to UK
By Hugh Milward, Microsoft UK Director, Corporate External & Legal Affairs
Today, we’re taking another important step forward in protecting democracy with the launch of Microsoft AccountGuard for the UK, part of our Defending Democracy Program and an expansion of AccountGuard for the US, announced in August.
We work with governments and other customers around the world daily to help them take steps to strengthen their security and concerns have been raised about possible interference in elections. We have seen foreign entities attempting to carry out cyberattacks and attempting to undermine trust in the democratic process.
Effective immediately, Microsoft AccountGuard is open to all candidates running for office; the campaign organisations of all elected politicians; political parties; technology vendors who primarily serve campaigns and committees; and certain charity and non-governmental organisations, such as bodies that organise the electoral process, involved in the democratic process.
Microsoft announced AccountGuard for the US in August
The service will provide notification about cyberthreats, including attacks by known nation-state actors, in a unified way across both email systems run by eligible organisations and the personal accounts of these organisations’ leaders and staff. It will also offer ongoing security guidance and education and provide early adopter opportunities for security features.
The technology is free of charge to eligible organisations using Office 365 and is designed to protect organisations that underpin democracy from cyberattacks. Interested organisations can visit www.microsoft.com/accountguard to learn more.
As we’ve said before, we know that Microsoft can’t solve this challenge alone, and as we continue to expand the program, we’ll look for opportunities to work with others across government, civil society and industry.
Whether you’re a contributor or committer building the platform, or you’re using the platform to attain your business goals, Cloud Foundry North America Summit is where developers, operators, CIOs and other IT professionals go to share best practices and innovate together.
Twitch teams up with Harmonix to develop a streaming karaoke game
Twitch is teaming up with Rock Band developer Harmonix to bring Twitch Sings, a streaming karaoke game, to the platform.
Announced during TwitchCon last week, CEO and co-founder of Twitch Emmett Shear described Twitch Sings as a “new category of game that’s made to be streamed,” explaining how the audience is integral to the experience.
The partnership makes a lot of sense, considering how Harmonix has experience in developing music-oriented games and karaoke is a performative activity best enjoyed with an audience.
However the announcement brings forth a few questions: How are the devs over at Harmonix monetizing Twitch Sings, if at all? Did Twitch invest in Harmonix or help fund the game?
More specifically are there any new, interesting dev features of Twitch that were specifically implemented for Twitch Sings?
Gamasutra has reached out to Twitch in hopes of answering these questions, and will update when a response is received.
The game is currently in closed beta, but Twitch is accepting signups on its website for streamers who are interested in taking part.
Video: The implementation of pro guitar mode in Rock Band 3
In 2008, music games were a big thing but the genre needed to innovate. Thus, Pro Guitar mode was introduced to Rock Band 3 with the intention of having people play on a real guitar, and actually learn to play the instrument.
In this classic GDC 2011 talk, Harmonix’s Jason Booth and Sylvain Dubrofsky break down the production and implementation of Pro Guitar mode in Rock Band 3.
The duo discuss how Pro Guitar mode was the result of three months of kicking around ideas, seven months of prototyping, and a full thirteen months of production to make it a reality.
In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.
Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.
Gamasutra and GDC are sibling organizations under parent UBM Americas.
Exclusive Avatar T-Shirt Now Available to Xbox Insiders Level 2+!
Starting today, the Xbox Insider Program is proud to offer an exclusive Avatar t-shirt to all Xbox Insiders who have reached Level 2 and above as a thank you for providing feedback and support throughout the years. This shirt is brand new in its digital format, but you may have seen the design in a previous post spotlighting our summer intern. We hope you’ll enjoy wearing it along with other cool Avatar accessories.
Additionally, congratulations to the Xbox Insiders who took part in early Xbox Avatar Editor flighting efforts and received the limited edition swag for doing so! In order to keep this item exclusive to flight participants, the previously announced Xbox Insider-specific Avatar t-shirt tied to the Xbox Avatar Editor flight is no longer available now that the Xbox Avatar Editor is available to all members of the Xbox community.
Thanks again for all you do, Xbox Insiders! Instructions for how to claim your shirt are posted on the r/XboxInsiders subreddit here. If you’ve never visited the r/XboxInsiders subreddit before, it’s an Insiders-helping-Insiders community of staff, volunteers, and Xbox Insider fans; we’d encourage you to stick around for the discussion, post a question or answer one, and tell us what you’d like to see more of in the Xbox Insider Program.
A Decade Later Mario Kart Wii Has Now Sold 37.14 Million Copies Worldwide
Nintendo’s latest financial results have revealed the Switch has now shifted 22.86 million units worldwide. The system has done so well, it has already outsold the lifetime sales of the GameCube.
While revenue for the company is predominantly coming from its new hybrid device released early last year, there’s a certain Nintendo-developed Wii game from 2008 that’s still earning a pretty penny on the side. Over the period of the last quarter, Mario Kart Wii has shifted another 40,000 copies. This puts its total sales at 37.14 million.
Wii Sports still reigns supreme as the best-selling Wii game, with a total of 82.86 million sales. Back in July of this year, Nintendo game sales figures for the Switch revealed the latest Mario Kart outing – Mario Kart 8 Deluxe – had shifted 10.35 million copies globally, making it the second best-selling game on the system so far.
So where are all these Mario Kart Wii sales coming from, you ask? Obviously, there are still new copies of the game out in the wild. At the end of last year, the Wii release was the 83rd best-selling game on Amazon for the holiday season. Not bad for a title that’s now a decade old.
