Tag Archives: Microsoft

8bitdo’s Xbox media remote lets you use your gaming console to comfortably watch Netflix too!

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Your Xbox can run Netflix, Hulu, HBO Max, YouTube, and Spotify, which sounds pretty impressive at first till you realize you have to navigate those apps with a gaming controller. If you’re the kind to use your Xbox for bingeing as much as you do for gaming, 8BitDo’s Xbox Media Remote might come in pretty handy. Designed to let you use your gaming console as a media console too, the remote gives you a traditional television-style experience, with the appropriate navigation, playback, and volume control buttons.

Designer: 8BitDo

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While it’s essentially a third-party controller, the Media Remote looks like it belongs right in Xbox’s design family, and works wonderfully with the gaming console too. It comes in the same colors as the Xbox (black or white) and two sizes – a smaller remote with all the basic controls, and a longer one with a few extra buttons. The remote works seamlessly with Xbox One, Series X, and Series S, allowing you to wake up your console just by pushing the main button and navigating through the interface just as comfortably as you would with a TV remote. If you’re in a gaming mood, the remote comes with XYAB buttons too, although don’t expect to pull off any spectacular victories with that! That remote’s for Netflix and Chill, not GTA and Thrill!

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Xbox Series S suitcase continues the Microsoft tradition of wacky yet must-have merchandise you can actually win!

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Microsoft Flight Simulator has finally arrived for the Xbox Series X and Series S consoles today for gamers who can’t wait to fly high on this highly acclaimed sim. However, for those who tend to take their compact Xbox Series S along on the next planned trip, there’s a better way, at least if you are lucky enough! Microsoft has collaborated with high-end luggage manufacturing company July to create a limited-edition Xbox Series S suitcase for lucky fans.

While the simulator offers players to fly around the world from the cozy confines of their living room, the Xbox Series S suitcase does allow them to go on a holiday and carry their kit safely. Coming on to this gorgeous July suitcase, it has a pure white exterior matching the color theme of the gaming console. On the inside is where all the goodies are there. It has the Microsoft Series S console, a pair of wireless controllers, and a portable ASUS ROG Strix XG17 display for immersive gaming on the go. Of course, all the connecting cables and other accessories are also a part of this package.

This terrific accessory is up for grabs via social media content exclusively for Australian and New Zealand residents older than 13 years of age. Ones under the age of 18 require parental/guardian approval to enter the contest. This fantastic promotion will run through till 11:59 pm AEST on August 2, 2021, and already some influencers have been sent over this cool Xbox Series S suitcase!

This is the best thing to own right now for a hardcore gamer, and I hope it is up for purchase for eager buyers later. That said, the whole package is evaluated to be around a steep $3,282. The beautiful display alone is estimated to be somewhere around $490! While I’m already daydreaming about owning one, I’ll have to find solace as it is just limited to the two nations for now! Microsoft has been no stranger to such creations as earlier they revealed the Xbox Mini Fridge coming this holiday season – and while we wait, we hope they drop some more fun designs to keep us on our toes!

Designer: July for Microsoft

This Microsoft-powered AI-enabled robot cleans up cigarette butts littered on the beach!

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This robot may look like the Mars rover, but it’s a unique cigarette bud collecting bot designed to clean up the litter on beaches. Called the BeachBot (BB), this cute little four-wheeled machine was developed by Edwin Bos and Martijn Lukaart of TechTics. The duo got livid with the amount of trash (cigarette butts in particular) on the Scheveningen Beach in Holland and wanted to design a robot that could help clean up the mess. That’s how the 2.5-feet wide BeachBot came into existence, looking to navigate the beaches on its bloated wheels that don’t create any marks on the sand. The battery-powered bot has an AI brain that uses image-detection software to identify the butts and then pick them up with its gripper arms. The collected trash is then stored in the onboard compartment to dispose of later.

BB can distinguish the intended litter from things like towels, sandals, or other things beachgoers might have brought along with them. The BeachBot only picks up butts for now since it is programmed to do so in conjunction with the Microsoft Trove app. The app has a database of images submitted by responsible citizens worldwide of littered cigarette butts. This helps BB distinguish them from other things, and it keeps learning with each attempt at picking up the butt. According to Bos, “the most interesting part of our concept – we have a human-robot interaction where the public can help make the robots smarter.” He elaborated that they started with cigarette butts which are the world’s most littered item, and soon, they want such robots to “detect a range of other litter.”

“The filters of cigarettes are full of microplastics,” he adds. “It’s bad that these end up in nature.” How bad? When water touches discarded cigarette butts, the filters leach more than 30 chemicals that are “very toxic” to aquatic organisms and pose “a major … hazardous waste problem,” according to a February study by U.S. government scientists. Some of those chemicals also are linked to cancers, asthma, obesity, autism, and lower IQ in humans.

There are more than 4.5-trillion cigarette butts litter all over the face of planet earth, and this is a good starting point to clean up the mess we created. The cigarette butts make sense since the butts leave toxic chemicals when water touches them on the beaches. This is just the beginning of the herculean effort to clean up the beaches. Who knows, in the future, a swarm of such robots could clean our planet if we don’t wake up early enough. Bos truly put it ahead by saying that robotic solutions may not be the ultimate solution “for this problem because the bigger problem with littering is still human behavior.”

Designer: TechTics and Microsoft

The best student discounts we found for 2024

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Despite college being (potentially) some of the best years of your life, it can be hard to enjoy it if you're scrounging every dollar for books, supplies, food and, if you're lucky, the occasional outing with friends. But there is a silver lining: student discounts. While it seems like good discounts can be harder and harder to find for the rest of us, students can find them fairly easily if they know where to look. We’ve collected the best student discounts we could find on useful services, along with some things you’ll enjoy in your down time. Just keep in mind that most of these offers require you to prove your status as a student either by signing up with your .edu email address or providing a valid student ID.

The Atlantic
Engadget

You shouldn’t rely on social media to be your sole source of news. With foreign wars, new viruses, Supreme Court decisions and upcoming elections making headlines daily, it’s important to get your news from reliable sources. Yes, it’s daunting to get into the news on a regular basis, but it’s crucial to know what’s going on in the country and the world as a whole. Here are some reputable news organizations that offer student discounts on their monthly or annual subscription plans.

The Atlantic: Starts at $45 per year for digital-only access.

The New York Times: $6 every four weeks for a base subscription.

The Washington Post: $1 every four weeks for digital-only access.

The Wall Street Journal: Starting at $4 every four weeks for the WSJ Digital pack.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-student-discounts-140038070.html?src=rss

The best laptops for college students

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Whether you commute to a physical campus, take classes online or do a little of both, a laptop is likely the center of your studies. If you're working with an aging machine, upgrading to a newer model can make all of your academic pursuits a little easier by helping you stay on top of your schedule and multitask better with dozens of tabs devoted to research while you write your essays. While almost every new laptop the comes out is a bit more expensive than the last, there's good news, too: laptops are lasting longer than ever before, so your new machine should serve you well for years to come. That is, as long as you pick one from a reliable company and with the right specs. To help you find the best buy as you shop, we put together this collection of things to look out for as well as a list of the best laptops for college.

What to expect

Apple has completed its transition to its own Silicon, so you’ll no longer have the option of Intel-powered Macs. Nor should you want to, really, since the M-series MacBooks have proven to be reliable, speedy and long-lasting. And with each new generation of chip, older models get cheaper while still offering excellent performance. This means you’ll have more options to consider without having to stretch your budget.

Meanwhile, new PCs keep getting announced, with the latest models typically powered by 13th-gen Intel processors or the latest AMD Ryzen chips. Though the shift to ARM-based systems has been successful for Apple, the PC industry is still struggling to keep up, and Windows on ARM is basically dead in the water. Don’t waste your time or money on an ARM-based PC; they’re hard to find nowadays anyway.

Speaking of, laptops with top-of-the-line specs can cost you around $1,800 to $2,000 these days. For most college students, though, a midrange machine to use primarily for writing papers and web browsing might be enough. Depending on your field of study, you could get by with an Intel Core i3 processor or equivalent, with at least 6GB of RAM. If you need to run specialized software for design or programming, consider upgrading to a beefier system with more processing power and memory. On the other hand, if you do most of your coursework online or in a browser, getting a Chromebook could save you a lot of money.

You’ll also want to pay attention to a device’s weight, especially if you plan on lugging your laptop to classes in person. There are a lot of premium ultraportables in the 13-inch category, with chips like Intel’s Core i3 or i5, that cost around $1,000. If these light laptops are too expensive, you’ll still have respectable options in the $600 to $800 price range, but they might be heavier and use older, slower processors. I’ve included our recommendations for the best budget laptops in this college-centric guide but we also have more affordable top picks that you can check out as well.

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With some laptop makers deciding to get rid of headphone jacks, it’s important to check specs lists when you’re shopping for newer machines. If you don’t have wireless headphones or use equipment that plugs into the 3.5mm jack, you’ll want to steer clear of devices like Dell’s XPS 13 Plus.

Finally, while most laptops offer WiFi 6 or 6E and Bluetooth 5.0 or later, you may not have one of the compatible routers or other devices that would enable those faster connections yet. Chances are, your campus WiFi might still be stuck on an older setup, too, so it’s not crucial that you get a system with the latest standards yet. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to get a laptop that’s future-proof, but just know that of all the things to look out for, WiFi 6E shouldn’t be a dealbreaker in your decision-making process.

The best laptops for college students

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-laptops-for-students-130054631.html?src=rss

The best laptops for college students

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Whether you’re working on an essay, doing research for a paper or just need some downtime streaming your favorite show - a good laptop is a sensible investment for every college student. The best laptop for college doesn’t have to push the envelope with the latest graphics card and processor, nor does it have to cost an arm and a leg. Sure, the best laptops come in all shapes and sizes and range in price, but college students don’t need a power-hungry machine to support their needs. The best laptop for college is ideally thin and lightweight, and provides enough battery to last all day without having to be tethered to the wall. No matter what you’re studying, we’ve researched and tested a range of laptops for you to consider as you decide which is the best laptop for college for you.

It’s important to consider your major and what you need your laptop to do before deciding on the best laptop for college. For example, if you’re a liberal arts major and will mostly be writing or making presentations, you don’t need an expensive system with a discrete graphics card. Alternatively, if you’re a film major who might need to render videos on a regular basis, having a beefy PC can significantly reduce the time it takes to finish a project. You’ll also want to take a look at any guidelines provided by your college or your specific program, as you may need required software or apps that only run on a specific OS.

Some other things to consider are if you want a more portable 13 or 14-inch machine that’s easier to carry around, or if you prefer something with a larger screen. On top of that, if you are doing tasks like photo or video editing, you’ll probably want to go for a system with a high-resolution display (1440p or 4K), so it's easier to see details. As for other specs, ideally you’ll want 16GB of RAM (though you can go down to 8GB on a Chromebook) and at least 512GB or 1TB of storage. Most newer laptops now come with SSD storage, too, which means you can store and transfer data much faster.

Finally, while your budget ultimately will determine how powerful of a laptop you can get, well-equipped ultraportables will generally cost between $1,000 and $1,400, with prices going up from there for systems with discrete GPUs. Budget Windows laptops and Chromebooks can be affordable alternatives though, with many going for just $500 to $700. But again, remember to check your school’s requirements because it’s not worth saving a few bucks only to find out that your notebook can’t run the app you need for all your homework.

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We have really enjoyed using the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop 7. They’re fast, quiet and support a huge range of both native Arm apps and traditional x86 software. However, there are a few major productivity apps that still have not been updated to work on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips used in the recent wave of Copilot+ PCs. Some of the most notable ones are Adobe’s Illustrator and InDesign (which won’t be available until sometime in July), and After Effects and Premier Pro, which aren’t expected to arrive until later in 2024. And given the number of college students who may need a PC to edit videos, draw or create layouts with these apps, that makes it difficult to give them whole-hearted recommendations in this guide right now. However, if you’re sure the apps you need for your course or major are supported, it may be worth giving these new Copilot+ PCs a closer look.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/best-laptops-for-students-130054631.html?src=rss

Xbox Series X-inspired Mini Fridge coming this holiday season, turning the meme into reality!

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In November 2020, Microsoft revealed their next-generation gaming console – the Xbox Series X – and it became a part of memes for a very unusual reason. People on social media compared its shape to a fridge, and sportingly, even Microsoft joined in the gag, making a real-sized functional fridge at that time. The one-off Xbox Series X Fridge was given away in an online contest. Now it seems Microsoft has been intrigued by the idea of Xbox Series X being a fridge (or should I say the joke) and wants to take it just beyond a one-off build.

Announced at their E3 2021 event, Microsoft revealed their Xbox Mini Fridge. The cool new appliance carries the tag of “Xbox and Chill” for the current skeptical times we are living in. That is, keep entertained with the next-gen Xbox console and stay chilled with your favorite can of soda during the breaks. Microsoft touts the Xbox-shaped mini-fridge to be the “most powerful mini-fridge” coming to your living room this holiday season. From the teaser reveal video released by Microsoft, the mini-fridge has an Xbox logo on the outside, and on the inside, it has a green ambiance to add a dash of the old Xbox intrigue.

The mini-fridge is powered by the “Xbox Velocity Cooling Architecture,” keeping it ultra-chilled at all times; paying homage to the Xbox Velocity Cooling Architecture that enabled the positioning Series X gaming console to be the most powerful gaming rig out there. By the look of things, the mini-fridge seems to hold around ten cans of beverages at a time and can be used to keep other items cool as well. The best thing is you’ll be able to grab one by the holiday season, and while there is no word yet on this mini-fridge pricing, we know it won’t be a stocking stuffer for sure! The idea already seems to be making waves for reasons good and bad (capitalism, duh!). We’re not entirely thrilled by the idea, as the appliance remains more of a gimmick without any added functionalities, but it may inspire a series of green/RGB light-emitting mini-fridges, and that is something I do find intriguing.

Designer: Microsoft

If Apple Arcade had its own gaming controller, I’d want it to look as minimal as this

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Sleek, with minimal details, and controls that are as baffling as the AppleTV Remote yet equally appealing. This may be Designer Hannes Geipel’s version of a Microsoft Surface Gaming Controller, but it definitely has a very strong Apple-esque vibe to it.

The Surface Gaming Controller concept by Hannes Geipel boasts of a brilliantly simple form. With absolutely no frills, textures, accents, or color-separation, the Surface Gaming Controller has a clean look to it that is a major contrast to Microsoft’s own Xbox controller. The Surface Gaming Controller comes with a soft, satin finish, and sports two rather slick looking joypads with a metallic ring around them. The joypads lie perfectly in reach of your thumb, while two large X signs sit where you’d expect the D-pad and the XYAB buttons.

However, instead of the buttons, the controller opts for flaps, using the X-shaped cutouts to create triangular plastic flaps that bend inward when pressed. The flaps give a natural spring-like action, providing just the right amount of resistance as you press it… although whether this detail is better than your average button from a tactile standpoint is something that’s yet to be determined. On the aesthetic front, the X-shaped cutouts definitely set the controller apart visually! There are even a pair of triggers on the upper corners of the controller, although they sit flush against the surface and recess inwards when pressed.

All the details on the Surface Gaming Controller focus more on form than on function, resulting in a device that definitely looks good. I’d arguably compare this to the AppleTV Remote, which most consumers will agree is more visually pleasing than functionally useful. Then again, the Surface Game Controller is just a concept. It echoes the clean, no-nonsense design of Microsoft’s Surface Book and Surface Pro, comes with minimal backlighting for night-time gaming, and if you look carefully, you’ll even spot the Microsoft logo on the back!

Designer: Hannes Geipel