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Microsoft Graph bridges the gap between Windows and your phone
You've probably never heard of the Microsoft Graph before, but it's going to be essential to the company's push into being the connective glue between all of your devices. For the past few years, the Graph has a shared platform connecting office apps. But with the upcoming Windows 10 Fall Creators' Update, it'll also "connect dots between people, conversations, projects and content." Announced during the second day of Build 2017, the aim is to make all things Microsoft work seamlessly, whether you're on an iPhone, an Android device or a Windows PC. (And without mentioning Continuum.) The new features goes beyond that, tapping into Microsoft's cloud storage services in a bid to make you more efficient while switching across different hardware and keeping track of (almost) everything you do on your PC. Let's take a look.
EVE Evolved: Fixing EVE's player activity
It's been a sort of running gag in EVE Online throughout the years that players spend inordinate amounts of time docked in stations and spinning their ships around in the hangar, but this is oddly close to the truth. Those of us who have been hooked to EVE for years know just how intense the game can get at its most frantic and how incredible it is to be present for historic events and important PvP battles, but those moments are rare, and there's typically a lot of downtime between periods of activity. For every PvP battle fought, incursion fleet formed or wormhole op organised, players often have to spend hours in stations or in space amusing themselves or doing busywork. With gamers now spreading their increasingly limited free time across a growing catalogue of online games, some EVE players log in for only a few minutes per day to queue skills, chat with corpmates, and see if anything interesting is happening. The recent announcement that the upcoming Phoebe release will contain infinite length skill queues has some players concerned that people will lose the motivation to pop their heads into New Eden each day and see what's going on. Since the best sandbox gameplay is emergent in nature, just getting players to log in so they're available to take part in something awesome when it happens is extremely important. In this edition of EVE Evolved, I ask whether EVE is in trouble due to its recent decline in player activity, look at the impact of people with just a few hours per week to play, and suggest a new app idea that could help solve all of those problems.
EVE Online graph shows connection between production and destruction
According to CCP, EVE Online is a constant feedback loop of production and destruction, each feeding off of each other in enormous amounts. The studio posted a colorful infograph that shows how much of each side was done in the game last year and under what level of system security. The devs explain the key difference between the two sides: "Most wars take place in the outermost regions of space (red on the scale), far beyond the safety of the high security regions of the Empires (light blue on the scale). The most favorable conditions for production are a mix of close proximity to major market hubs and the safety provided by the high security regions surrounding them. This visualization tells this story, showing the total produced- and destroyed-value of end products (ships and modules), where production mainly takes place in higher-security space (yellow to blue) and the majority of destruction takes place in low- or null-security space (orange to red)."
Samsung launches S Health services: Monitors weight, blood sugar and graphs it all
Samsung mentioned its S Health app in passing during the grand unveiling of the Galaxy S III -- presumably due to the glut of similarly S-suffixed apps and services that were also unveiled. The service has now apparently launched in Samsung's homeland, alongside more details of what it'll offer. This includes a raft of metric-measuring charts, as well as the ability to connect through Bluetooth and USB to health devices like heart-rate monitors and connectivity-friendly scales. The app will record and even graph your health ups and downs, aiming to help "regulate" what you eat and gauge exactly how much you exercise. It has now launch on Samsung's App hub and will make its way to the US and five to-be-confirmed European countries soon. Let Samsung explain the "warm emotional experience" in a Google-translated release right after the break. Update: We've just received the English version of the PR, which adds that the app is now live in the UK, alongside an initial list of compatible health devices. Take a look after the break.
Visualized: Android's device diversity cut up into 3,997 little pieces
Some call it diversity, some call it fragmentation. However you slice it, there's a lot of Android devices out there. OpenSignalMaps has tracked a staggering 3,997 unique phones, tablets and other Google-powered gadgets, and has put them into a chart weighted by popularity. Not surprisingly, it's powerhouses like Samsung's Galaxy S II and HTC's Desire line that dictate the platform, while that Concorde Tab you bought in Hungary sadly doesn't have much traction. The normally signal mapping-oriented crew is careful to warn that the actual variety might be less: there's 1,363 one-timers in the group, and some of those may be custom ROMs and the endless carrier-specific variants that OEMs are sometimes eager to make. There's even more to look at through the source, including Android 2.3's continuing dominance and the mind-boggling number of Android screen resolutions, so click ahead for an even fuller picture.
Five top tips for your first few days of Diablo III
Diablo III officially launched at midnight last night, opening the floodgates on what is possibly the most pre-ordered PC game in history. It's been almost 12 years since the previous game in the series launched, and it's still going to this day. Whether you've played previous games, have taken part in the Diablo III beta or are taking your first steps into Sanctuary today, everyone starts with a clean slate. In this article, I give my top five tips for spending your first few days wisely in Diablo III. #5 - Spend most of your time on one character It seems like a bit of a no-brainer to initially focus on one character, but in Diablo III's case, there's a special reason to do it. You'll likely finish normal mode around level 20-30, and until then, you'll get a new skill almost every level. It's only when you've completed normal mode and moved on to nightmare that the challenge really starts and you will have picked out an effective set of skills. Your last active skill unlocks at level 30, and from then on you'll gain a combination of two to three runes or passive skills every level until you hit the level cap at 60. Read on for four more tips you should keep in mind as you start playing Diablo III.
Visualized: Apple and Samsung occupy the 99 percent... of phone profits
Financial maven and maker of beautiful graphs Horace Dediu has found that between the top eight mobile phone vendors, Apple and Samsung share 99 percent of the total spoils. Of RIM, LG, Sony (Ericsson), Motorola, Nokia and HTC, only the latter made a profit -- claiming that left over one percent. The remaining six all recorded losses for the quarter, Mr. Deidu adding that several of those companies are carrying feature phone businesses that they should shed before they become an albatross around their neck.
Webcam programmed to capture your face while playing Xbox: gauges your excitement, graphs ennui
Sometimes, those Modern Warfare sessions really take their toll. Now, there is a way to measure the emotional rollercoaster you're subjecting yourself to when you login for those regular gaming stints. Dale Lane decided to hook up the webcam above his main TV to grab a shot of his face every 15 seconds. This then wings its way to the Face.com API, which calculates all sorts of information about the image and sends it back to Dale, who uses a Python script to cook it into these graphs. This one measures his early evening session playing Blur on Xbox Live. Yeah, red means angry.
App turns Android tabs into math tools for the visually impaired (video)
Two high school students are taking part in a bit of an experiment at Vanderbilt University. The college's Medical and Electromechanical Design Laboratory (MED Lab) is working on an Android app that turns tablets into a teaching aid for the visually impaired. Areas of math that rely heavily on visual elements, such as algebra and calculus, prove problematic for students with poor eyesight. A common solution involves pipe cleaners, a cork board and push pins, to recreate graphs, but the method is quite slow. The MED Lab is looking to haptic feedback as a way to help the visually impaired identify lines, graph points and other data that is normally represented visually. For more details about the project check out the video after the break.
Asymco graphs Apple's distinctive growth curve and longevity
Look at the major PC vendors in the 1970s, then look at the same industry today. You'll find only one name common to both periods: Apple. The company's competitors from the early days of the PC industry have all either gone out of business, been absorbed into other companies, or shifted focus to other industries. Even once-mighty IBM got out of the business of selling PCs to consumers in the mid-2000s. Not only is Apple by far the most long-lived company in the PC industry -- almost 36 straight years selling computers to everyday people, compared to 24 for IBM and 20 for Compaq -- Apple is also the most profitable PC vendor by a wide margin. Apple has bucked the overall industry trend in terms of both its longevity and profitability; its competitors from the early years have long since flamed out, while its current competitors are, with few exceptions, struggling to stay relevant. Horace Dediu of Asymco has graphed both Apple's longevity and the number of units it's shipped year over year compared to its competitors, and as usual his graphs provide a very instructive view of Apple's performance (which I'd encourage you to check out for yourself). According to Dediu's graphs, Apple is the only current PC/device vendor shipping more than 100 million units per year; no one else is even close to shipping that much out, and thanks to Apple's tight supply controls, units shipped generally translates very closely to units sold. When the graph gets adjusted for longevity, that's where the real craziness of Apple's performance becomes clear. Other historical PC vendors like IBM and Compaq enjoyed initial exponential sales growth that eventually tapered off, then ceased altogether. If Apple behaved like the rest of the PC industry, the same thing might have happened to it; Apple's performance looks eerily parallel to that of IBM for most of its life, but the performance takes way off again in the mid-2000s for some reason. Rather than showing signs of tapering off, it keeps increasing exponentially. Philip Elmer-Dewitt of Fortune analyzed Dediu's findings and says "it puts the lie to Wall Street's consensus view about Apple's future growth." Based on historical performance of other PC vendors, Wall Street analysts keep expecting Apple's performance to taper off and reach a more steady state -- still positive growth in sales and profits, but more of a linear growth than the huge gains of the past few years. Looking at the big picture, though, that view isn't supported at all. Apple's performance looks nothing like that of its competitors when you look at its entire history; if Apple had behaved as it "should" according to what's happened to its competitors, then it should have gone out of business in the mid-90s as we all feared it would. Instead, Apple keeps redirecting its focus rather than staying the course, and its performance over the past five years clearly reflects that. If Apple had never introduced the iPhone and iPad, the company's growth almost certainly would have slowed down years ago; man cannot live on Macs and iPods alone. Yet though Apple is by far the longest-lived of the PC vendors, it owes that longevity to a willingness to adapt. Both in terms of the products it sells and its overall focus, the Apple of 2012 is a very different company than the Apple of 1976, and the fact that the company has developed itself into a swiftly moving target means it's unlikely Apple will suffer the fate of its historical competitors anytime soon.
Facebook launches Timeline Apps platform, socialites rejoice
Facebook, along with its launch partners, has finally let loose its Timeline Apps platform, setting Open Graph apps free to roam the web. Announced at the company's f8 conference in September, Timeline Apps allow third-parties to build Facebook applications that facilitate information sharing amongst users and their social network. While FB initially focused on the music and movie genre, Zuckerberg & Co. seem to have keyed-in on a variety of markets for today's launch, from travel (TripAdvisor) to cuisine (Foodspotting), and even ticketing companies like ScoreBig, Eventbrite, StubHub, TicketFly and Ticketmaster. So now everyone will know immediately when you scored those backstage passes to Ricky Martin because you're living la vida loca with Timeline. Get the full story from Facebook at the source and PR from ScoreBig awaits after the break.
Over one percent of League of Legends players have been banned
Handling antisocial behaviour has always been a problem for online game developers, and MOBAs like League of Legends certainly get the worst of it. The inherently team-based nature and slippery slope gameplay in MOBAs makes it very easy for one antisocial player to ruin a game and cause your team to lose. The problem is normally tackled head-on with a report tool and a suite of hired GMs, but what do you do if your game is free-to-play and has over 15 million registered players? It would be impractical to hire thousands of GMs to police a community of that size, so Riot Games came up with an alternative in the Tribunal system. The Tribunal allows players who have played enough games to reach level 30 to vote on whether to take action against a reported player. Once enough votes are tallied, either the player is pardoned automatically or his case is submitted to a smaller GM team to await punishment. The system went live earlier this year, and Riot has now revealed how incredibly successful the system has been with the publication of some very interesting banning statistics. The biggest shocker is that a whopping 1.4% of LoL's over 15 million players have been banned with the system, a workload that far exceeds the capacity of a traditional GM team. Ninety-four percent of players submitted to the Tribunal are punished, with about 50% of them never reoffending. Skip past the cut for an image showing these and other statistics, and stay tuned to our weekly Not So Massively column every Monday for more LoL news and updates.
Google brings graphing calculator functionality to search, still can't play 'Snake'
Well, Google's gone an done it, turning the Internet into one giant graphing calculator. The software behemoth has brought graphing capabilities to search, letting users input a mathematical function into the engine -- or multiple functions, separated by commas. And, this being Google, users can explore the graphs more closely by zooming in and out and panning across. According to the company, it "covers an extensive range of single variable functions including trigonometric, exponential, logarithmic and their compositions." If you know what all of that means, we're guessing you're pretty psyched about this news.
Asymco graphs Apple's performance under Steve Jobs
Asymco always has great graphical analysis of Apple's performance, and the site's latest is no exception. Dirk Schmidt has analyzed Apple's market cap during the Steve Jobs era, and the graphs show just how dramatic Apple's turnaround was during Jobs's time as CEO. At the beginning of Jobs's tenure, Apple's market cap was lower than every one of its competitors. But after an average 42 percent increase in market cap from 1997 to 2011, Apple became the most valuable publicly-traded company in the world. Asymco's second graph, which shows Apple's of combined market cap among its competitors, shows how dramatic an effect Apple has had on the tech sector. Almost everyone is getting squeezed by Apple's ascendancy, but it seems Microsoft has been hit hardest of all; the company that Windows built has gone from over 50 percent of the market cap share down to measurably less than Apple's share. If you're a graph junkie, definitely head over to Asymco and check out their analysis for yourself.
iDVM Digital Multimeter collects voltage readings on your iDevice, shares them with whoever cares
This, dear reader, is the iDVM Digital Multimeter -- the world's very first iDevice-enabled voltmeter, from Redfish Instruments. Designed with auto technicians, electricians and engineers in mind, the iDVM uses an ad hoc wireless network to connect to any iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch, allowing users to record voltage, resistance and current directly from their palms. Once you've purchased the multimeter and downloaded the accompanying iDVM app, you'll be able to gather electrical measurements from up to 30 yards away from your target, log data over extended periods of time and export your findings in spreadsheet or graph displays. The rechargeable battery-powered device can also read your measurements back to you, which should make you feel slightly less lonely while digging around your car's engine at 3 am. We're still not sure why anyone would want to juggle their iPhone while chasing down a shorted wire, but if you do, the iDVM starts shipping on June 1st, for $220 -- which could buy you about 40 less complicated multimeters from Harbor Freight. Full PR after the break.
Nielsen: 31 percent of kids want an iPad, other stuff
Hey look, a chart with the iPad on top. Aren't statistics fun? And yet, this chart may not mean quite what you think it does. The Nielsen Company presented a cadre of individuals with a list of nice, shiny gadgets and let them cross off anything and everything they'd like to buy in the next six months, and 31 percent of kids 6-12 picked the iPad as one of them. That doesn't mean these youngsters wanted the iPad any more than a game console, mind you, it just means more of them picked the tablet than any other single game console on the list. Also, it turns out that the iPad was the only tablet PC available, so it could well have served as a proxy vote for other slates -- Galaxy Tab, anyone? The survey results also don't factor in ownership, so if the Xbox 360's low on the buy list, it could be because respondents already have one... but we suppose this is the definitive proof we've been searching for that e-readers are on the outs in the 12-and-under crowd. Jeff Bezos is crying over his evening oatmeal right now. After the break, see what the same chart looks like for teenagers and adults. (Hint: they aren't all that hot on handhelds.)
Android accounts for one-quarter of mobile web traffic, says Quantcast
It's terribly difficult to get reliable statistics, as numbers tend to vary drastically depending upon whom you ask, but if you're inclined to believe that Android is mopping up Apple and RIM's declining mobile mindshare in the US, you'll find nothing but corroboration from Quantcast. The analytics firm reckons a full one-quarter of mobile web traffic stateside comes from devices running Google's OS, though it's important to know that the iOS tallies apparently don't include the web-friendly iPad. You also might want to note that this is mobile web traffic here -- these days, we spend an increasing amount of our internet time in apps -- and since we're on a roll with the disclaimers, let's just add that these numbers have nothing to do with a company's financial success. Nokia can attest to that.
iDevices making up more and more of Apple's revenue
Apple held their latest earnings call this past week, which means we're right in the middle of a flood of analysts' charts and graphs about how well they're doing. This one's extra interesting, though -- we've talked before on this site about Apple's interesting position between its past of PCs and OS X and its apparent future as the "largest mobile device company in the world," but here it is, in bright colorful stripes put together by Silicon Alley Insider: the iPhone, the iPod, and iTunes make up the majority of this company's business, and have for quite a while. This chart only goes back to June of 2007, but notice how the whole thing trends upwards -- at some point here that I'd imagine is sooner than you might think, we'll reach a spot where the iPhone and various Apple iProducts will have made more money than the Mac ever did. Not that Apple is abandoning the Mac at all, and neither are we -- we're still an unofficial Apple weblog, and we're still committed to covering the whole company. But I even noticed this back at Macworld earlier this year -- there's definitely two factions in the Apple audience, one that hearkens back to the old school pre-OS X Mac identity, and another that can't get enough of the iPhone and the iPad (which, you'll notice, is still missing from the chart above) and apps and so on. As time goes on, that iFaction is growing bigger and bigger, both inside of Apple and out.
Stats: iPhone OS is still king of the mobile web space, but Android is nipping at its heels
AdMob serves north of 10 billion ads per month to more than 15,000 mobile websites and applications. Thus, although its data is about ad rather than page impressions, it can be taken as a pretty robust indicator of how web usage habits are developing and changing over time. Android is the big standout of its most recent figures, with Google loyalists now constituting a cool 42 percent of AdMob's smartphone audience in the US. With the EVO 4G and Galaxy S rapidly approaching, we wouldn't be surprised by the little green droid stealing away the US share crown, at least until Apple counters with its next slice of magical machinery. Looking at the global stage, Android has also recently skipped ahead of Symbian, with a 24 percent share versus 18 percent for the smartphone leader. Together with BlackBerry OS, Symbian is still the predominant operating system in terms of smartphone sales, but it's interesting to see both falling behind in the field of web or application usage, which is what this metric seeks to measure. Figures from Net Applications (to be found at the TheAppleBlog link) and ArsTechnica's own mobile user numbers corroborate these findings.
Austin Independent School District makes deal to buy more video games for classrooms
We've seen educational video games show up in the classroom before, and it looks like one school district is coming back for more. The Austin Independent School District has ordered up another set of edu-games from a company called Tabula Digita that provides 3D, first-person action-based games to teach students how to do basic math and algebra. One sample scenario in the games has students calculating the location of an in-game weather station on a graph, and then using the data found there to make charts and track down alien creatures. The press release doesn't mention costs, but according to its website, 15 single-user licenses to the games cost the school $1049.25 each, making up a cost of just over $24,000 for the entire 350 student program. The students, who were part of a 10-day JumpStart program and had previously failed a math retest, were allowed to play the games for 30 minutes a day, and, afterwards, 82% of the kids said they had improved their understanding of the concepts. No word on how their k/d ratio came out.
