Sony won't use Android Wear

Google is hoping that smartwatch makers will opt to use Android Wear, a special version of Android OS that is specifically geared towards use on wearable devices. While many hardware makers are jumping on the Android Wear wagon, Sony is currently saying no.

Sony has said that it plans to continue to use its own platform. Sony's Ravi Nookala said, "We've already invested time and resources on this platform, and we will continue in that direction."


Sony Smartwatch 2

Sony has had limited success with its smartwatch efforts so far, so it certainly has a big task ahead of it in the smartwatch future.

Sony competitor LG is expected to be the first company to offer a smartwatch running Android Wear. Motorola has also offered details on its Android Wear-packin’ Moto 360 smartwatch which will launch this Summer.


Motorola's Moto 360 uses Android Wear

Sony isn't alone in its choice to use its own OS either. Samsung uses Tizen in its Gear 2 smartwatch, but it has also signed on to use Android Wear in future devices.

Bitcoin is IRS ruled now

 The IRS ruled Tuesday that the embattled virtual currency Bitcoin is “property, not currency,” paving the way for regulation in the U.S.  

The decision by the Internal Revenue Service subjects the currency and its users to capital gains and income tax and requires that digital currency operators make significant, perhaps costly, updates to abide by strict record-keeping rules.

This marks the first time the currency, which was the subject of a multimillion-dollar theft earlier this month that triggered the bankruptcy of Mt. Gox, has been forced to comply with widespread taxable federal regulations.

Last March, the U.S. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (Fincen) attached a money laundering rule to all virtual currencies, saying that the standard federal baking rules aimed at catching suspicious dollar transfers also apply to monies that only exist online.

The currency’s extreme volatility and lack of security has been at the heart of critics’ arguments for regulation. However, a challenge remains its anonymity, one of Bitcoin's hallmark features.

"For federal tax purposes, virtual currency is treated as property," the IRS ruled.

While in some environments, the IRS admits that Bitcoin operates like a "real" currency, meaning that similar to paper money it is accepted as a medium of exchange, the IRS said it "does not have legal tender status in any jurisdiction."

The IRS, which had been silent on the virtual currency until now, says it will treat Bitcoin much like stock or other intangible property. If held as an investment, any recorded gains would be charged capital gains tax – which are lower than income tax.

Restaurants, retailers and other people and businesses that receive Bitcoin for products and services will now be required to record those gains as wages on a Form W-2, subject to federal income tax.

Bitcoin miners -- those people who validate Bitcoin transactions on their home computers -- will now be subject to tax on gains. As a profession, "mining" will be considered a trade or business, subject to self-employment taxes.

Major Bitcoin marketplace, Coinbase, and Bitstamp, now the largest Bitcoin exchange, did not immediately respond to FOX Business for a comment on the rule.


The price of Bitcoin on Coinbase most recently sat at $586.

Elder Scrolls O. Exclusive Images!

Elder Scrolls Online – exclusive concept art gallery – in pictures

Bethesda is set to take its critically acclaimed Elder Scrolls series into the massively-multiplayer realm later this month. Here, the concept and lore design team introduce us to a selection of concept artworks produced for the forthcoming PC, PS4 and Xbox One title

"This is a biome piece for Stormhold, an ancient city founded by the Barsaebic Ayleids. You can see what remains of their architecture in the background. Later it was taken over by Argonians who built their modern mud homes among the crumbled arches."

"These are designs for the Robes of the Worm Cult. The Cult of the Black Worm is a society of necromancers, worshipers of Molag Bal, and evil fiends devoted to the hastening of the Planemeld. They sow dissent wherever they operate, performing foul rituals, hoarding powerful relics, and raising undead minions to cause chaos."

"This is a biome design for Auridon in the Aldmeri Dominion. It’s a region of tall, broken cliffs, colorful forests, and pale sands. While the High Elves cultivate their surroundings, wild regions of deep forest and forgotten ruins still remain. This is a very ancient and traditional region."

"Medium, heavy, and light armors in the Breton style are shown here. There were several iterations of these throughout development. Breton designs are the most 'traditional' medieval fantasy designs in ESO. Centuries of warfare in High Rock have led the Bretons to value functionality over beauty; their architecture and attire alike share an earthy, hand-crafted quality."

"This piece depicts southern Bangkorai, a landscape of shifting desert sands with small outcroppings of hard, flat stone. A few shallow oases dot the desert, almost all fortified by Redguard nomads who have made this treacherous land their home for centuries."

"An array of props designed for the Oblivion realm of Coldharbour, the setting for much of ESO’s main storyline. Molag Bal holds dominion over this wretched plane."

"The battle-scarred Breton city of Camlorn, which you can help liberate from its bestial conquerors."

"These Colovian rugs can also be hung as tapestries. The Colovians of western Cyrodiil have Nord ancestors, and their influences are apparent in Colovian culture and attitudes. They’re a stern, religious people. You can see the symbols of Akatosh, Kyne, and Stendarr woven into these decorations."

"The entrance to the Crypt of Hearts lies on the southeastern border of Rivenspire at the foot of the Wrothgar Mountains. Once an idyllic farming enclave, something evil has taken root here and destroyed the peaceful city of Heartland."

"Here, you can see some of the modular system designed for the Dwarven ruin set, which is the setting for many dungeons in ESO. Dwarven architecture is primarily subterranean; the few surface features are generally entryways."

"This shows a glimpse of Eyevea, a sanctuary for members of the Mages Guild. But now the entire idyllic island has been magically spirited away by a mysterious force. Can you help the Mages Guild regain it?"

"These are some tree and rock guides designed for Eastmarch, which is mostly icy volcanic tundra. It has a few scattered lakes bordered by snow-covered mountains to the east and west. Pine forests grow in the fertile lands at the base of the mountains, thinning at altitude to form a vast, frozen wasteland."

"This is a banekin, a weak servitor Daedra that is only clever in its cruelty. They are not masters of their own powers and are known to be more destructive than helpful. A summoner might find some use in letting them wreak the wanton havoc they so love. Beyond that, their uses are few—they’re quick to forget commands."

"These Daedra, the harvesters, are often used by Molag Bal as overseers of cult activities. They’re frequent participants in rituals involving sacrifices or soul-stealing. Though they do have some measure of intelligence, their lack of culture or language places them below the Dremora in Daedric hierarchy."

"The titan is a giant, armored behemoth used by Molag Bal as a guardian of souls and other critical strategic resources. Part undead, part Daedra, this horrific monstrosity is intelligent and powerful, making it a formidable foe for even the most skilled adventurers."

"This shows a battle with a daedroth, a crocodile-headed humanoid Daedra. Reptilian and massive, simple and brutish, daedroth are savage, ravenous beasts. Their thick hides are resistant to magical attacks, and they’re known to belch forth fire—a devastating addition to their powerful attacks."

Canines and Techs!

A new canine masterclass promises to teach dogs how to paint and read commands on a touchscreen

Shiona Tregaskis teaches her dog, Olive, to recognise the word 'sit'. Photograph: Ross McElwain/The Guardian

It was inevitable, really, given the irrepressible rise of the selfie: the day has finally come when we can attempt to teach our canine friends to capture images of themselves.

All the same, I am a little taken aback to find myself smearing my iPad screen with peanut butter and waving it under my pup’s nose.

I am at an iPad class billed as “higher education for your dog”, run by the pioneer of dog-selfie training, New Yorker Anna Jane Grossman. She has teamed up with her childhood friend Nicole Scott, founder of City Dog, and Londoners now have the opportunity to attend one of their iDog clinics.

“These courses are about having fun together, developing the bond between you and your dog, and refining your training skills. Plus you will walk away with a cool party trick,” promises Scott, while Grossman is quick to point out that we are not here to teach our dogs to do useful things, such as online banking.

Refine your training skills

City Dog has its own bespoke app in development, which will launch in early May, but in the meantime, Grossman and Scott use a variety of apps, including Big Camera Button, which turns the entire screen of a tablet or smartphone into a shutter button. The camera is constrained to close-focus and is able to take pictures in quick succession, increasing the dog’s chances of capturing itself at a flattering angle.

My dog and I don’t get off to a brilliant start. Olive is a sensitive Chinese crested-mix who can’t cope with the sound of the clicker - the training device used to pinpoint and reward the exact moment the dog does something that the trainer wants to encourage. She modestly turns her face away from the iPad, desperate for a place to hide.

When I clock the carefree shiba inu next to us, who has already progressed to creating her own artworks on a specially designed painting app, I begin to question whether my dog is quite as bright as I have always liked to believe.

‘A dog is like a little robot’

But under Scott’s gentle guidance, we build Olive’s confidence, teaching her first to touch my hand with her nose, moving to a wooden dummy iPhone, and finally, the iPad screen. Before long, she has captured dozens of selfies. Most of them are fairly abstract, but I’m delighted.

Olive takes a selfie. Photograph: Olive Tregaskis/The Guardian

At one point she gets her tricks mixed up and does a high-five on the screen. The result is a nice shot, but maverick acts of spontaneity such as these are not to be encouraged. “We want our dogs to nose the iPad on cue,” explains Grossman firmly, “because if you can master that, the better she’ll be at understanding you when you need to teach important stuff.”

Social engagement aside, what lies at the heart of the iPad training is motor development. Scott points out that Olive is aiming for exactly the same spot on the screen every time, and what may appear to be random nose swipes are in fact fairly precise. “It’s conditioning,” she says. “Dogs learn in pictures. Inside your dog’s brain is a very simple algorithm – pleasant images in one place and unpleasant images in another. A dog is like a little robot, and every time we say ‘yes!’ she takes a picture of whatever is visually in front of her and files it in her ‘pleasant’ queue.

“Later, we can train her to differentiate between images, such as words on a screen, for example. We can even get her to answer a question by training her to tap a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ button.”

It all sounds a little too sophisticated for poor Olive, but my reservations are swept aside when Grossman, in a matter of mere minutes, teaches her to recognise – and respond correctly to – written commands, using the app Big Words.

Trying it for myself, I hold up the iPad with the word “sit” in large white letters against a black screen. Olive immediately sits. Next I show her “whirly” and she twirls around, enthusiastically rewarding me with what is, helpfully, her favourite trick. I return the word “sit” to the screen, and she obliges. I am amazed. We agree she’s clearly more of an intellectual than an artist. “You’ll have her reading Dostoevsky soon,” says Grossman.

What dogs really want

Cats have long dominated the pet app market. Game for Cats, for example, which encourages them to chase after laser dots, has been downloaded more than 1m times. But never mind the popularity of cat apps – you’d never get a cat to recognise a word and respond to it.

Olive's artwork created on App for Dog. Dogs are, of course, operating-system agnostic.

At first glance, it all seems like a bit of silly fun, but key to City Dog’s methods is something genuinely essential to dog ownership: nurturing through play the deep two-way bond between animal and human. 

“So many of our clients love to spoil their dogs with material stuff, but their dogs don’t care about all that. What they really want is mental stimulation. They want to play,” Grossman says. “We’re teaching owners how to get engagement from their dogs, which is the foundation for all dog training.

“I think people are starting to see dog selfies less as a novelty and more as something that actually can be a step toward developing other kinds of training skills.” 

As the lesson draws to a close, Olive has taken 146 selfies. I think I may have created a monster.