Google to kill off Hangouts on Air next month, have users move to YouTube Live

Much like what has happened with Google+, Google is taking some of the best features of its Hangouts on Air live-streaming service and moving them to YouTube Live. Starting September 12^th, if you want to livestream through a Google service, using YouTube Live is the way to go. Google released a walkthrough on how users can make a transition to YouTube Live, including things like starting, scheduling, and controlling livestreams from there.

The native Q&A feature won’t be included in the transition. This time, Google wants broadcasters to use social media or Google Slides’ Q&A feature to communicate to viewers while streaming. Showcase and Applause are also getting cut.

Source: The Verge

Windows 10 PCs coming out next year will have Windows Holographic access

Mixed reality is almost upon us. Microsoft Windows head Terry Myerson announced at Intel’s annual developers’ conference that the company is partnering with intel to allow Windows 10 PCs coming out next year to have support for mixed-reality applications. What mixed reality is, as defined by Recode: “The key term for mixed reality, or MR, is flexibility. It tries to combine the best aspects of both VR [virtual reality] and AR [augmented reality], wrapped up in a marketable term that sounds marginally less geeky than its cousins. In theory, mixed reality lets the user see the real world (like AR) while also seeing believable, virtual objects (like VR). And then it anchors those virtual objects to a point in real space, making it possible to treat them as "real," at least from the perspective of the person who can see the MR experience.”

The upcoming PCs will have the holographic shell built in—this is the same operating system running on the Microsoft HoloLens headset. PCs will work with a head-mounted display and run all Windows Holographic apps and this will be enabled by “6 degrees of freedom devices,” which are input devices to add positional tracking alongside other traditional input forms like clicking and pointing. And it’ll be widely available, too. So you don’t require a high-powered machine needed by some of today’s VR headsets. The Microsoft demo video at the conference showed Windows 10 Holographic running at 90FPS on a tiny Intel NUC desktop PC.

Source: TechCrunch + The Verge

Logitech creates new gaming mouse with pro gamers in mind

Logitech has worked towards giving professional e-sports players the best possible accessory they can have: a really good gaming mouse. The brand collaborated with e-sports players to help build the G Pro Gaming Mouse. It took inspiration from the familiar shape of the G100s and the accuracy, speed, and responsiveness of the G303.

The G Pro Gaming is built with a lightweight yet durable design to withstand the abuse it will go through when in the hands of a pro gamer. Its PMW3366 sensor promises pixel-precise accuracy with zero smoothing, acceleration, or filtering across the DPI range.

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Q&A: More information about Google's Duo video calling app

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Google's release of their Duo 1-to-1 video calling application for Android and iOS device signifies a serious move into the personal communication app space. Looking at rival Apple's iPhone, one of the key applications and features that has made it easy to grow the ecosystem is FaceTime on iOS and macOS devices. Google's Duo is a clear cross-platform move to challenge FaceTime as well as create the foundation for a new class of lightweight and dedicated apps.

I reached out to Google Canada to get more perspective on what Duo can do and what it really means. Below is a transcript of our Q&A.

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