Archives for April 1, 2018

Alexa gets a DVR recording skill

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Slowly but surely, Alexa’s becoming a more competent catchall video assistant.

Slowly but surely, Alexa’s becoming a more competent catchall video assistant. Back in January, Amazon launched its Video Skill API designed to offer more control over apps from cable and satellite companies. An update this week brings the ever-important ability to use the smart assistant to start recoding.

The skill joins a number of functions already available from top providers, including Dish, TiVo, and DIRECTV and Verizon — each of whom will likely be updating their Alexa skill set to reflect the new feature. The whole thing works pretty much as you’d expect.

Say, “Alexa, record the A’s game,” and the associated service will do just that. Or, you know, any baseball team, really.

Also new in this update is the ability to jump directly into frequently used navigation options, like DVR interfaces or video services like Netflix orPrime, the example that Amazon gives in its post on the topic. Once in a specific program, users can ask it Alexa to do things like pause the show, and the assistant will comply.

The new skills are available now to developers and should be hitting some of the aforementioned services soon.

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch.

Apple patent taps VR to ease motion sickness in self-driving cars

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The US Patent and Trademark Office has published an Apple patent application

The US Patent and Trademark Office has published an Apple patent application that details a pretty neat VR system. Spotted by Patently Apple, it’s meant to be used in vehicles — including self-driving vehicles — and Apple pitches it as a way to mitigate motion sickness. But the company also describes a lot of other interesting applications, many of which could be used to turn a standard ride in an autonomous car into a business meeting, a concert or an exciting, zombie-filled adventure.

The application says that the system could include a VR headset or a projector that would display the images on interior walls of the vehicle. In regards to motion sickness, the system could include a variety of sensors that could monitor the passenger and determine when they might start feeling ill. Sensors that can detect sweating, pulse rate, fidgeting and swallowing, for example, could be used to pick up when the passenger is beginning to show signs of motion sickness and the VR experience could be adjusted to mitigate that response. The system could adjust to make sure all real-life movement and acceleration experienced by the rider matches up with what’s being displayed to them in VR. Visual anchors, displaying a virtual platform below the user or providing visual cues ahead of turns and stops, could all be used to ease a rider’s discomfort.

But beyond motion sickness prevention, the VR system could also be used to entertain the rider. Apple describes introducing virtual riders into the car, like authors who can read their book to the passenger, as well as coworkers who can all virtually meet for a conference in any number of virtual environments.

Riders could also choose to experience fun activities, such as floating down a river, hang gliding or chasing down zombies. Vehicle features like the heating and air system as well as the audio setup could be used to enhance the experience. And car motion could be incorporated into the virtual environment. For example, stopping at a light could trigger your virtual car to stall as zombies approach you and going over a speedbump could be translated into running over one of the zombies in VR.

Keep in mind, this is only a patent and it doesn’t mean these concepts will ever come to fruition. But it’s certainly a cool idea. And this isn’t the only VR-focused patent from Apple — which also recently bought an AR/VR-focused startup — to surface recently, so it seems as though the company has its eye on this sort of technology.

This article originally appeared on Engadget.

90-year-old Kelowna woman attends more than 4,400 aquafit classes

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As long as I’m able, I’ll keep doing it,’ says Beatrice Ingram

Beatrice Ingram, 90, has been called ‘an inspiration’ for attending three aquafit classes a week for 37 years. (YMCA)

Kelowna resident Beatrice Ingram — known to most people as Bea — might put you to shame in your gym class.

The 90-year-old has clocked more than 4,400 aquafit classes at the Rutland YMCA, a hobby she didn’t pick up until the age of 53.

“We retired young … we needed something to do,” Ingram said to Dominika Lirette of CBC’s Daybreak South.

“We were too young to just sit around and do nothing.”

For the last 37 years, Ingram has been a regular fixture on the rowing machine and an active participant in the pool.

She typically attends three classes a week, often upstaging the instructors.

“Sometimes they do it slower than me because I like to put in as much energy as I can,” she said.

“Nothing hurts in the water. It’s just beautiful.”

Worker ‘Bea’

Ingram said the YMCA has approached her about teaching a number of times, but she refused.

“I don’t want to be the centre of attention. I’m a worker ‘Bea,’ not a queen ‘Bea,'” she says.

Ingram credits aquafit with keeping her healthy, active and social.

Ingram says the YMCA has asked her to teach classes but she ‘doesn’t want to be the centre of attention.’ (YMCA)

“Lots of people have told me over the years that I am an inspiration to them. It makes me feel great that they think that,” she said.

March is Embrace Aging Month in the Okanagan.

Ingram said she plans to continue attending classes as along as possible.

From trap to table: An inside look at the first haul of Quebec snow crab season

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Crews work 15 hours at a time, hauling traps and sorting catch

The crew of 7 works for 15-hour stretches hauling snow crab traps off the port of Matane, Que. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

Captain Bertrand Desbois sets off aboard the Dauphin III from the Port of Matane at 5 a.m., eager to check in on the first Quebec snow crab traps of the season, launched the night before.

Radio-Canada journalist Maxime Corneau accompanied the crew of seven on their first fishing expedition of 2018 and documented what he saw.

A winch lifts the heavy traps out of the water for sorting on deck. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

A few minutes out, the boat comes up alongside two pink buoys announcing the kilometre-long line where some 20 trapsare sunk.

“It’s a strong start, like last year,” says Desbois as the traps are raised out of the water by a winch.

He stands and oversees the operation from his cabin; one eye on the horizon and the other on the crabs piling up on the sorting table.

The snow crab fishing season got off to an early start this year. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

At the sorting table, the most experienced workers toss the small crabs and females laden down with eggs back into the water while the younger recruits replace the quickly filling bins with empty ones.

At this first stop, 20 traps are emptied of their precious contents — 1,500 kilograms of crab.

After the line is put back in the water and the crowded traps are put in the hold, the fishermen take a break.

The process of hauling, rebaiting and relaunching traps will take more than 15 hours, but the fisherman work at a steady pace.

Captain Desbois will try to match last year’s quota by harvesting 230,000 kilograms of crab in less than a month.

After this fishing season, it will be lobster off Anticosti Island, then halibut, shrimp and so on.

After two hours of unloading at the dock, the majority of the thousands of kilograms of crab caught that day will head west to supply the family fish counter in Quebec City.

The truck will leave in the middle of the night, around 1:30 a.m., after the official weigh-in.

The delivery truck makes stops along the six-hour route before arriving at the Desbois family fish counter in Quebec City. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

The delivery truck that goes to Quebec stops from time to time to deliver small quantities of crab to long-standing fish markets.

After six hours of driving, buyers are already lining up at the fish counter of Marché du Vieux-Port.

Nobody hesitates to shell out $7.95 per pound of fresh crab.

Among them is chef Raphaël Vézina, co-owner of Laurie Raphaël on Dalhousie Street.

“It’s the first product to come after a long winter,” said Vézina as he walks back to his restaurant.

His recipe for cooking crab is simple. Boil a large pot of salt water and throw in a few crab sections for eight minutes, no more or less.

Chef Raphaël Vézina says he likes to keep his crab dishes simple. (Maxime Corneau/Radio-Canada)

The crab is then put on ice, shelled and inspected with a black light to ensure no piece of shell will end up on customer’s plate.

“It’s a product that we’re so lucky to have. It’s part of our wealth,” says Vézina. “For a Quebec chef, it’s fabulous.”

Twin brothers in Michigan welcome newborns on the same day: ‘It was destined to be’

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Cousins Jack (left) and Lucy Thorington (right). Their parents weren’t expecting the babies to be born on the same day. (Justin Thorington)

Twin brothers in Michigan had an unexpected surprise on Tuesday when both of their wives gave birth on the same day.

Joshua Thorington and his wife, Denise, welcomed a baby boy named Jack at 4:18 a.m. on March 27. Just an hour later, WPBN reported, Justin Thorington and his wife, Alex, arrived at the same hospital — Munson Medical Center in Traverse City — because she was in labor.

After the couple announced Jack had been born, family members starting asking when they could come see the newborn. Everyone except for Alex and Justin, that is.

“We didn’t hear from them [Alex and Justin] right away so I thought something was up,” Joshua told Fox News on Friday.

That’s when Joshua’s brother, Justin, told him that his wife Alex was in labor. Just before midnight that same day, Alex gave birth to a baby girl named Lucy.

“It was kind of destined to be,” Joshua told WPBN.

From left to right: Josh, Denise, Alex and Justin pose with their newborns for a photo. (Justin Thorington )

Initially, the babies were due roughly two weeks apart from each other, Joshua said. “The entire pregnancy we joked about how it could happen.”

Both families are ecstatic the cousins will now share the same birthday.

“It’s been crazy how much attention is been getting. At first it didn’t really hit me how unique this was, (maybe because I’m a twin), but the more I think about it the more I realize how special it is,” Justin told Fox News.

The aspect that Justin thinks is the most special, he said, is that “Lucy and Jack will always have someone in life to have fun with, and someone that can be there to lean on or provide support to through difficult times. They will always have a friend.”

Lisa Thorington, Joshua and Justin’s mother, told Fox News the family is “over the top” about the births.

“The twins are extremely close so on some level it just makes perfect sense,” she said.

Justin said he’s thankful the two couples will have each other to “go through this experience as parents together and learn from each other.”

“I think it will bring us even closer together,” he added.

Steve Nash officially receives call to Basketball Hall of Fame

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Canadian guard is among 13-member class that will be inducted in September

Steve Nash, left, and Jason Kidd will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. (Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press)

Canadian Steve Nash, Jason Kidd and Grant Hill are among the 13-member class that will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September.

The Hall of Fame made the announcement Saturday on Twitter before the NCAA Final Four semifinals.

The inductees also include Ray Allen, Maurice Cheeks, Tina Thompson, coach Lefty Driesell, Charlie Scott, longtime executive Rick Welts, NBA executive Rod Thorn, Katie Smith, the late Ora Mae Washington and Croatian star Dino Radja.

Nash, from Victoria, and Kidd were two of the greatest point guards of their generation. Nash is a two-time NBA most valuable player and eight-time all-star while Kidd earned 10 all-star selections.

Hill won two NCAA titles at Duke and was a seven-time all-star. Allen is the most prolific three-point shooter in NBA history and a two-time league champion.

Face of Canadian basketball

Nash was the face of Canadian basketball for the better part of two decades, and when he retired in 2015, his 10,335 assists ranked him third all-time behind John Stockton and Kidd.

Nash made the All-NBA first team on three occasions during his career with Phoenix (’96-98, ’04-12), Dallas (’98-04) and the Los Angeles Lakers (’12-15). He represented Canada internationally for over 10 years and led the national team to the quarter-finals of the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

“Steve Nash’s impact on Canadian basketball may never be fully articulated,” Canada Basketball president Michele O’Keefe said in a statement. “His level of competitiveness drove Team Canada to win some great games and yet his biggest contribution may be how he has inspired the following generations to pick up a basketball.

“From a kid growing up in Victoria to ‘Captain Canada,’ on behalf of all Canadian basketball fans, congratulations Steve on this remarkable accomplishment.”

‘Trailblazer for the game’

Nash, a 15th overall draft pick by the Suns in 1996, averaged 14.3 points, 8.5 assists and 3.0 rebounds over 1,217 career regular-season games. He also appeared in 120 playoff games, averaging 17.3 points and 8.8 assists.

Nash earned FIBA Americas MVP honours in 1999 and 2003. In 2012, he was named general manager of the senior men’s national team.

“Steve has been a trailblazer for the game of basketball in Canada and worldwide,” said Canada Basketball executive vice-president Rowan Barrett. “He was a consummate professional and a tremendous example of what can be achieved with hard work, discipline and true belief in yourself. As a friend that grew with him from our teenage years, and on behalf of our men’s high performance team at Canada Basketball, we wish Steve a heartfelt congratulations on his induction to the Hall of Fame.”

Nash attended Santa Clara University and was twice named West Coast Conference Player of the Year (’95, ’96).

Elite class

A three-time winner of the Lionel Conacher Award as The Canadian Press male athlete of the year, Nash joins fellow Canadians Dr. James Naismith (inventor, 1959), Ernest C. Quigley (official, 1961), Peter F. (Pete) Newell (coach, 1979) and Robert J. (Bobby) Houbregs (player, 1987) as Hall inductees.

“I couldn’t be happier for Steve to be recognized like this,” said Suns coach and Canadian men’s team coach Jay Triano. “Being inducted into the Hall of Fame is a tremendous honour for not only Steve, but for Canadian Basketball and for all Canadians who have followed his career. [He’s] a two-time NBA MVP, a member of the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honour and a Canadian Olympian, but there is no greater tribute than being selected to the Hall of Fame.

“It is an incredible achievement for Steve and for all Canadians. He was a great player, but also [a] great leader and teammate.”

The induction ceremony is set for Sept. 7 at the Springfield Symphony Hall.