Technology - Google News

Doctor uses iPhone 13 Pro camera to take macro images of patient's eyes - AppleInsider
PlayStation Officially Acquires Bluepoint Games, Next Game Planned to Be an Original, Not a Remake - IGN
Sonos Beam (second-gen) review: Atmos(t) a minor upgrade - The Verge

Doctor uses iPhone 13 Pro camera to take macro images of patient's eyes - AppleInsider

Posted: 29 Sep 2021 09:29 PM PDT

A San Diego area doctor has discovered that the macro mode on Apple's new iPhone 13 Pro models could be useful in the monitoring and treatment of eye conditions.

In a LinkedIn post on Wednesday, Dr. Tommy Korn, who is an ophthalmologist and digital health innovation specialist at Sharp Healthcare in San Diego, said that he's been using an iPhone 13 Pro Max to take macro images of a patient's eyes.

Korn added that he was "impressed" with the performance of the camera. The eye specialist added that the iPhone 13 Pro Max could "innovate patient eye care & telemedicine," and said he's looking forward to seeing where the technology goes.

Dr. Korn also shared a few images of the iPhone 13 Pro Max in use during the treatment of one of his patients who is healing from a resolving abrasion in a cornea transplant. The iPhone was used to take images monitoring the patient's recovery.

Dr. Korn using an iPhone 13 Pro to snap images of a patient's eyes. Credit: Dr. Tommy Korn

In a comment on Korn's post, optometrist Dr. Jeffrey Lewis also said that the iPhone 13 Pro Max camera could be "yet another way to impress, manage, nurture long-term relationships with our patients."

"PS: this 'Pro camera' includes a telephone app too!" Dr. Korn joked.

Apple's macro photography mode on the iPhone 13 Pro and iPhone 13 Pro Max has been called the lineup's "strongest advancement in the camera system." Rather than using an additional lens or other components, the macro mode uses computational photography to achieve its ultra-close-up shots.

This is far from the first time that an Apple product has been used in medical or health applications. Earlier in September, for example, the crew of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission used the Apple Watch and iPhone to conduct research investigating the impact spaceflight has on the human body.

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PlayStation Officially Acquires Bluepoint Games, Next Game Planned to Be an Original, Not a Remake - IGN

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 08:09 AM PDT

Sony Interactive Entertainment has announced yet another studio acquisition - Bluepoint Games, the developers of the Shadow of the Colossus remake on PS4, and, most recently, the PS5 remake of Demon's Souls.

Bluepoint and PlayStation have worked closely together for years, but the news comes after the studio's latest successful release, as Sony confirmed Demon's Souls has sold more than 1.4 million copies since release. IGN spoke with PlayStation Studios Head Hermen Hulst and Bluepoint President Marco Thrush to learn more about the acquisition, PlayStation's overall studio strategy, and about how, thoughBluepoint is steeped in PlayStation remaster and remake expertise, it wants to explore original ideas.

Bluepoint Wants to Make Original Games

Demon's Souls was only released last November, and while Bluepoint isn't officially announcing its next game, Thrush explained that the studio is aiming to work on original content going forward. No exact details about what the "original content" Bluepoint is working on will be, so it remains unclear if it is a new game that is part of an existing IP, or something new entirely.

Have you played Demon's Souls?

"Our next project, we're working on original content right now. We can't talk about what that is, but that's the next step in the evolution for us," Thrush said, noting that, even with remakes like Shadow and Souls, the studio was already partially creating original content. He explained how, really, the growth of the studio, both in the literal number of employees as well as types of projects, naturally leads to this next step, especially given the team's pedigree.

"The transition from remasters to remakes was to test ourselves and push ourselves harder for the next step," Thrush said, noting the team was at about 15 people during the production of the original God of War collection, right now is at about 70 employees, and grew to 95 people at its peak during Demon's Souls (with outsourcing work, too).

Demon's Souls PS5 Screenshots

"Our team is a very highly experienced team, the average experience among most people is about 15 years, and all of them come from original development. It's not like we're a bunch of developers that got trained up on making remasters and remakes. We have that original game development mindset in our hearts, and that's what we're now ready, finally ready with the support of Sony to push forward and show what we can do, and show what PlayStation can do," he said.

And though the potential is exciting for Bluepoint to be tackling its own game, don't expect to see it too quickly. The studio has had a surprisingly quick turnaround on its games, having worked on five PlayStation remasters or remaster collections and several ports over the last decade, while moving from remasters in 2015 to Shadow in 2018, and then Demon's Souls in 2020.

"When we're working on a remaster, on a remake, we're very, very fortunate and that we basically, the original team finishes the game, we get handed that game, and then we got to polish it for a few years," Thrush said, noting that that "polish" is, of course, a lot of work and original art and design in its own right.

"You're starting out with the blueprint, right? True original development, there's a blueprint, you execute on it, and then it's not fun and you throw it away and you start over. So yes, by definition, my default answer is going to be original development, of course, takes longer. It has to, otherwise, you wouldn't make a good game."

And given PlayStation's recent commitments to being willing to delay games to let teams achieve their vision on a reasonable schedule, Hulst says that will be true for whatever Bluepoint and Sony's various other studios make.

"It's always about making quality games in a way that's sustainable for the teams, for the individuals on the teams. Because obviously when we acquired team like Bluepoint, this is a long-term play for us, right? We're not in it to get some quick results," Hulst said, explaining that, in short, recent delays of games like Horizon Forbidden West and God of War Ragnarok

aren't cause for concern.

"We're very happy actually with development progress that I feel good about the decision that we made there [with Horizon and God of War]. And it's very much the mindset that it's people first. We are a people business. Everything we do is about the developers, their health, their creativity, their wellbeing."

Screens - Shadow of the Colossus

Why PlayStation Acquired Bluepoint, and Why Bluepoint Wanted to Be Acquired

Though PlayStation and Bluepoint have been working together for years, Bluepoint has remained independent all that time. That has now changed, of course, and Hulst and Thrush explained why the two decided to make the merger official and bring Bluepoint under the PlayStation Studios banner. And it largely came down to wanting to make that working relationship as beneficial to both sides as possible to let the studio produce its best work.

"Bluepoint is now in a place where there's hardly an entity imaginable that knows PlayStation better than they do, because they've worked with so many different teams on their respective, iconic franchises that they've had a developer insight in a wonderful way," Hulst said, explaining that he let the team finish up Demon's Souls before discussions really began about the acquisition.

"We've expressed that probably better together, making sure that Bluepoint can focus on their games, can focus on what they do best, making amazing worlds, wonderful character development, and make use of all the resources that we have got to offer," Hulst said.

And from Thrush's perspective, the two sides have worked so well together, making the acquisition happen really just allows them to continue doing so without any red tape getting in the way.

"We've loved working with PlayStation all these years. There's really nobody else we want to rather work with, so we started talking to these guys and it just happened to work out," Thrush explained. "And now our future is extremely bright. As Hermen was saying, we have all these opportunities ahead of us. We have all the Sony support. We don't have to grow to become a gigantic studio. We have lots of helping hands on the Sony side now that can fill in for any gaps and maintain our studio culture."

As for when the deal came together, Hulst explained that talks largely occurred after Demon's Souls was released, so that the team could keep its focus on delivering that PS5 exclusive. The two sides saw eye to eye on why the acquisition would be beneficial and, to put it simply, it allows Bluepoint, and Thrush as the studio's president, to focus more on creating the experiences they want to and not have to worry as much about the security of the team as a whole.

"I've also in my past run an independent studio, and I realized that the amount of work you need to do, even when you have close partnerships, on business acquisition and making sure you hedge your bets, there's a lot of energy that goes into that," Hulst elaborated. "I know that if we take that off of Marco's plate and let him focus on what he wants to focus on with his team... then I think that's good for both parties. It's good for them because they get to do what they love most, and it's great for us because there's even more focus by Bluepoint on what we want. And that is amazing content, amazing games to come out of Blueprint."

Thrush echoed this sentiment, noting the opportunities the studio has had for past games, like the ability to hire the London Symphony to score Demon's Souls, or being able to rely on other PlayStation assets, such as already established motion capture studios and more.

Every IGN PlayStation First-Party Exclusive Review

And though PlayStation has been on a bit of an acquisitions spree lately - Firesprite, Nixxes, and Housemarque have all also been acquired as first-party studios this year - Hulst explained Sony's recent approach is born from a desire to let these teams do their best work with the resources of PlayStation at their disposal.

"The way we look at our group of studios, and we now have 16 internal teams as part of PlayStation Studios, is very much the way we look at our games. It needs to be right, it needs to fit what we're about in qualitative terms, it's got to be the right games. Same with the teams. The teams stay have to have a very collaborative mindset," Hulst said. "They need to be quality-oriented. We're not buying teams to just be bigger. We're only buying teams because we feel that together, we're going to make something that is going to be even better than if we did it separate from one another."

PlayStation isn't necessarily going to stop looking at potential acquisitions, Hulst explained, but they need to be studios that both share the same values, and can expand what's offered to PlayStation players.

"We are open always to building new relationships or bringing people in-house, but only if we adhere to the quality-first mentality and the right kind of innovative content, new experiences, diverse experiences. Because all of these teams, they share a lot, but they're also very different from one another, and that's what I really like," Hulst said. And I think that's what the PlayStation audience, the PlayStation fans, deserve, it's that diverse slate of games coming out of PlayStation Studios."

Jonathon Dornbush is IGN's Senior Features Editor, PlayStation Lead, and host of Podcast Beyond! He's the proud dog father of a BOY named Loki. Talk to him on Twitter @jmdornbush.

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Sonos Beam (second-gen) review: Atmos(t) a minor upgrade - The Verge

Posted: 30 Sep 2021 06:00 AM PDT

From the moment Sonos announced the second-generation Beam soundbar, it was evident that this sequel is more refresh than reinvention. The new Beam, available October 5th and now slightly more expensive at $449, is the same compact size as the 2018 original. The speaker drivers inside the unit are completely unchanged. Sonos has touched up the appearance by switching from a fabric covering on the first Beam to the company's signature perforated plastic with finely drilled holes running along the entire front of the soundbar. And because it's equipped with more processing power and eARC, the new model supports immersive Dolby Atmos audio.

But the target customer for the Beam hasn't changed one bit: this is a soundbar for people who want to upgrade their TV's lousy built-in audio — with the enticing side benefit of native integration with Sonos' multiroom audio system. At its price, the Beam is more expensive than entry-level soundbars from Vizio and the like. And if you're willing to spend double, you can get much larger, beefier Atmos soundbars like Sonos' own Arc or alternatives from Sony and Bose. The Beam is dwarfed in size by the Arc, and its sound performance doesn't approach the same level. But I can still see and understand the appeal of choosing this one instead.

Maybe you're in an apartment where more powerful speakers would agitate the neighbors. Maybe you don't care about or feel the need to invest in premium-tier home theater audio: you just want to make your movies and TV shows sound noticeably better, and the Beam's smart speaker functions and wide support for music streaming are just icing on the cake. If that's what you're after, the second-gen Beam does the job equally as well as the first. Slightly better, even.

Just don't get your hopes up about the whole Dolby Atmos surround sound part. When reviewing the original Beam, Nilay said the key was to not overthink it. But by making Atmos a pillar of the second-gen model, Sonos is leaving room for people to do just that and come in with unrealistic expectations. As I'll get into later, for all the work Sonos has put into virtualization and tuning to try to replicate Atmos' enveloping height channels, it turns out there's really no substitute for speakers that are pointed, well, up.

Aside from the sleeker perforated front side, everything else about the Beam's external appearance is identical to the original. You've got the same capacitive touch playback controls on top — including a button to mute the built-in voice assistant mics — and the same ports on back: there's HDMI, an ethernet jack, a connect button, and the power input. What's new about the second-gen Beam is that Sonos has upgraded the HDMI port to support eARC, which enables Atmos and comes with other perks that often go unadvertised. For example, if you've got a TV with HDMI 2.1, you shouldn't encounter any audio and video sync issues (even when gaming), which could be frustratingly common on the first Beam. That alone is a reason I'd buy this hardware over the original given the choice — even if you can still find the old Beam for a while.

Setup remains a relatively quick, easy process using the Sonos app for Android or iOS. I plugged the Beam into my LG CX OLED TV, opened the app, the new device was automatically recognized, and then I held my phone near the soundbar to finish linking it to my system via NFC. iPhone owners still get exclusive access to Sonos' Trueplay feature, which uses the phone's mic to optimize the soundbar's audio output to sound best for any room in which it's being used. Considering the Beam has its own mic array, why not just build automatic Trueplay into the thing? Android users can still take manual control of sliders for bass, treble, and loudness.

The Beam's 40-percent faster processor allowed Sonos to add more "arrays" — the software that coordinates the playback and sophisticated phase algorithms between all the soundbar's speakers — and the new ones are fully dedicated to surround sound and height effects. But remember, the acoustic architecture inside hasn't changed from the first Beam. There's a center tweeter, four midwoofers, and three passive radiators that Sonos says help to enhance lower frequencies. However, physics are physics, and we're talking about a soundbar that's barely over two feet wide; in other words, you're going to want a Sub if you need growling, powerful bass. The Beam won't get you there on its own, but neither does the Arc or most any standalone soundbar for that matter.

But the Beam is still a strong performer that tends to genuinely surprise people for its size, and this one fares even better. It can fill most smaller to midsized living rooms (or bedrooms) without straining itself. And the amount of presence and great stereo separation of the first model has carried over to the new device. The general surround virtualization effect is quite good: you can get lost in movies without it being obvious that all the sound is originating from the soundbar beneath the TV.

Watch a car chase or some fighter jet sequences, and you'll hear that the Beam does an impressive job having audio "swoop" in from the left and right sides of a room — assuming your walls aren't terribly far apart. The feeling of spaciousness is very real, and in A/B testing with the original Beam, this is where those new arrays are making the biggest difference. I've seen Sonos describe it as panoramic sound, and that seems right on.

The company has also made some tweaks that result in even clearer dialogue in regular listening, and the "speech enhancement" mode is still there if you need even more emphasis on what's being said.

But as for the Atmos part? Meh. My bedroom has fairly low ceilings, but even when sampling go-to Atmos action scenes in movies, I can't say I often picked up on any standout height effects. Don't buy the Sonos Beam in hopes that it'll legitimately sound as though audio is coming from above. It just doesn't get there. You can bounce carefully phased sound waves off walls all you want, but it won't hold a candle to a proper Atmos system with in-ceiling speakers. Even some owners of premium soundbars like the Arc that do have up-firing speakers don't consider the Atmos aspect to be a game-changer. If your room conditions are ideal, you might get some hints of verticality, but there's no real illusion of 3D.

Even if it's low on Atmos magic, the Beam can be the start of a really great surround system if you tack on a Sub and other Sonos speakers as rear surrounds. (Opting for the Ikea Symfonisk bookshelf speakers is a popular way to save on the latter.) You're looking at well over $1,000 to build a proper 5.1 setup, but if you see yourself staying in the Sonos ecosystem for a long time to come, it's worth considering. Adding in extra speakers can quickly make you forget about the Beam's size constraints. And you can always upgrade to an Arc down the line and keep everything else in place.

AGREE TO CONTINUE: SONOS BEAM (2021)

Every smart device now requires you to agree to a series of terms and conditions before you can use it — contracts that no one actually reads. It's impossible for us to read and analyze every single one of these agreements. But we started counting exactly how many times you have to hit "agree" to use devices when we review them since these are agreements most people don't read and definitely can't negotiate.

To use the second-generation Sonos Beam, you must agree to the company's privacy policy. The company also collects what it refers to as "additional usage data," and this covers a lot, including:

The temperature of your product
Wi-Fi information like signal strength
How often you use music services connected to your Sonos system
Information about how often you use the Sonos app versus other control mechanisms
Flow of interactions within the Sonos app
How often you use the physical controls on the unit
Duration of Sonos product use
Duration of music service use
Product or room grouping information
Command information (such as play, pause, change volume, or skip tracks)
Sonos playlist or Sonos favorites information

You can opt out of additional usage collection, but Sonos warns that doing so will disable functionality like personalization services (e.g. Recently Played), Sonos Radio, voice control, and more.

Final tally: one mandatory agreement and one optional. Using voice commands with Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant will subject you to the privacy policies and terms of service of those companies.

Everything else about the Beam can already be found on the first model. It's still totally competent as a music speaker (and the improved virtualization helps here too), though not as well-matched for that as something like the Sonos Five. You can choose to use either Google Assistant or Amazon Alexa as your preferred voice assistant — but not both at once, even if it's technically possible. (You can also just skip setting up a voice assistant if you'd rather avoid them). The soundbar supports Apple's AirPlay 2, so you can play music, podcasts, or other audio to it from an iPhone, iPad, or Mac. And you can also send TV audio across your other Sonos speakers if you're so inclined.

At the center of everything is Sonos' compatibility with pretty much every streaming audio service under the sun. The company has said it'll add support for high-resolution audio and Dolby Atmos tracks from Amazon Music later this year, and hopefully the same will pan out for Apple Music. Sonos is also granting a longtime customer request with the introduction of DTS decoding, another feature coming to all of its soundbars in the coming months.

Sonos' addition of Dolby Atmos to the second-generation Beam doesn't magically turn it into some mind-blowing $450 soundbar. But it's still a very good one made better by the new virtualization upgrades and its seamless integration with your other Sonos gear. That, combined with the company's impressive commitment to software support, are still the biggest reasons to spend the extra cash on this instead of buying a perfectly good Vizio bar for less. The upgrade to eARC makes for a smoother, more dependable listening experience without any latency issues, and the new design will look better in your living room. But a lack of proper up-firing speakers limits the Atmos potential, and the fact that Sonos has reused so much of the hardware here makes the second-gen Beam feel like a half-step toward something more ambitious. I expect to see bigger things whenever the third generation comes along.

Photography by Chris Welch / The Verge

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