traditional – Tech Today w/ Ken May

Android 8.0 Oreo is official, starts rollout to devices

Enlarge (credit: Google ) NEW YORK CITY—Happy Eclipse Day! As the Moon slowly crept its way across the Sun, Google took the opportunity to host an Eclipse-themed Android 8.0 launch event in New York City. Along with eclipse glasses and a simulcast of NASA’s eclipse livestream, Android “O” finally got its full name: “Android 8.0, Oreo.” Like KitKat before it, Android’s alphabetical snack-themed codenames have gone commercial and partnered with an actual snack producer, adopting Nabisco’s trademarked “Oreo” as the name for this release. The event also came with the traditional statue unveiling: a superhero Android Oreo. With today’s event, Android 8.0 Oreo is shipping out across all the usual distribution methods. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is getting the 8.0 code drop. OTAs will begin to roll out “soon” to the Pixel, Pixel XL, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus Player, and Pixel C, and system images should be up on developers.google.com soon. Any device enrolled in the Android Beta Program will also be upgraded to these final builds. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

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Android 8.0 Oreo is official, starts rollout to devices

Xbox apes Netflix with $10 per month, 100-game unlimited “Pass”

Enlarge / A promotional image shows some of the games you’ll be able to download for one monthly subscription price through Xbox Game Pass. (credit: Xbox Wire ) Borrowing a page from Netflix’s unlimited subscription model, Microsoft today announced Game Pass , a service that will offer downloadable copies of over 100 Xbox One and backwards-compatible Xbox 360 games from the systems’ legacy catalogs for a $10-per-month subscription. Microsoft hasn’t provided a full list of games that will be available yet, but an e-mailed announcement included Halo 5: Guardians, Saints Row IV Re-Elected, NBA 2K16, Mad Max, LEGO Batman, Mega Man Legacy Collection, Terraria, Payday 2, Gears of War: Ultimate Edition, Fable III, SoulCalibur II and Tekken Tag Tournament 2 as examples of what to expect at launch. Publishers taking part in the program include 2K, 505 Games, Bandai Namco, Capcom, Codemasters, Deep Silver, Focus Home Interactive, Sega, SNK, THQ Nordic GmbH, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and Microsoft Studios. New games will cycle in and out of availability with some regularity, Microsoft said. Still, based on the above list, we wouldn’t expect any major new releases to hit Game Pass until well after their traditional retail launches. Read 4 remaining paragraphs | Comments

Amazing photos along China’s Silk Road

My friend Kevin Kelly wandered down the Silk Road (the one in China) and took many stupendous photos. He wrote, “Technically this region is called Xinjiang (New Province), also once known as East Turkestan. This area has more in common with the culture of Turkey than with Beijing. It’s kebab with chopsticks. But this is really China. In fact it is the largest province of China. I took a bunch of photos and the usual caveat applies: this is a very selective view, and it does not represent the typical scene in the province at all. Like most of China it is rapidly urbanizing. But I think these images capture the spirit of this part of Asia, which once connected east and west.”