Technologies

How Apple’s Headset Could Immerse You in Sports

Commentary: Multiscreen view and «umpire view» would be pretty sweet in virtual reality.

Earlier this month, Apple TV 4K owners who watch sports on Apple’s TV service may have noticed a small new feature called multiview as part of TVOS 16.5. As its name suggests, this feature allows users to watch multiple games at once, making it particularly useful for MLS Season Pass subscribers or MLB fans who are trying to keep tabs on multiple matches that Apple is streaming at the same time.

And whereas Apple’s current multiview plans are extremely limited to just its Apple TV 4K boxes running beta software, the feature could be a bit more interesting with Apple’s long-rumored AR/VR headset that rumors suggest will materialize in June at the company’s annual WWDC.

Watch this: How Apple’s VR Headset Can Stand Out

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Immersing in sports

In a recent report, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman detailed a few ways Apple plans to position the forthcoming headset to users. Among apps for FaceTime, gaming and fitness was this:

«One selling point for the headset will be viewing sports in an immersive way. The company already offers games from Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball on Apple TV Plus, but it’s looking to make that a richer experience.» He also notes that Apple purchased NextVR, a company that produces sporting events and concerts in virtual reality, back In 2020.

Although Apple has yet to stream any games in virtual reality, its MLS and MLB deals could give it room to explore adding VR cameras to its productions in the future. Its Apple TV Plus broadcasts of MLB games have already explored new camera angles, including an «ump view» that lets you watch some action live from the perspective of the home plate umpire.

Belli gets us on the board!@Cody_Bellinger pic.twitter.com/Sl8r7VaSLY

— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) April 7, 2023

Some leagues already offer VR games, including the NBA which has offered live VR streams for years. In January, the league announced it was expanding its partnership with Meta for VR streaming of regular season games on the latter’s Horizon Worlds platform.

While most of the NBA games that aired in VR this year were basically giant virtualized versions of the main TV broadcast, the league did do five «immersive 180-degree monoscopic live VR games in 2880 resolution» that allowed fans to virtually sit courtside to watch live basketball on a Meta Quest headset.

The NBA in VR on Meta's Horizon Worlds — The NBA in VR on Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

NBA

«We love quoting a stat that 99% of fans will never get to a game,» Teddy Kaplan, the NBA’s new media partner management lead, told CNET, noting that when factoring in international fans and the ability to sit courtside, that number is closer to rounding up to 100% of fans.

«And so we were like, what would be cooler than just setting up a camera courtside and stepping away and letting you experience that courtside seat experience,» he said.

«We want to bring that arena atmosphere to them,» said Paul Massache, the NBA’s associate vice president of broadcasting content management. «Part of that is building this immersive experience. Now to have viewers sit courtside virtually is an experience that really can’t be duplicated. Unless of course, you know, you’re at the game.»

Multiview could be the gateway

The concept of multiview isn’t unique to Apple. Google’s YouTube TV offered a similar feature for March Madness and plans to include a multiview option for its NFL Sunday Ticket package in the fall. Sony offered a similar capability with its now-discontinued PlayStation Vue live TV streaming service back in 2019, while Fubo has also had the option as a part of its service for years.

But while it remains to be seen how deep down the VR rabbit hole Apple goes with live game production, in the interim it could put multiview into play.

Imagine the Apple TV app on the headset. Whereas multiview on a TV puts up to four games into four windows that are limited in size by your physical screen, with the headset you could have what amounts to four giant virtual screens that provide a sports bar-like experience at home or wherever you put the headset on.

As Apple also is involved in the production of these MLS and MLB games, it could go down a route that combines AR stats and overlays to create an immersive experience similar to what Magic Leap and the NBA once envisioned for that company’s headset.

Apple’s dabbling with sports always felt like it was building to something more than just another piece of content for its streaming ambitions. It’s possible that with the headset’s rumored imminent arrival and the rollout of new features like multiview, we might be starting to finally see that vision beginning to come into focus.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #463

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle No. 463 for June 9.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Todays NYT Strands puzzle features a bunch of mysterious words. Some are a bit difficult to unscramble so if you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: What you see isn’t what you get

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Hiding in plain sight

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

CALL, CALLS, FALL, FALLS, SAME, SEAM, LAND, ROSE, COVE, CANE, CANES, FLUME, FLUMES, DIGS, MEAL, COLA, CARD, CASE

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

MASK, CLOAK, COVER, FACADE, DISGUISE, CAMOUFLAGE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is FALSEFRONT. To find it, start with the F that’s two rows over from the far left and two letters down. Wind around into a question mark.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections Hints, Answers and Help for June 9, #729

Here are some hints and the answers for Connections for June 9, No. 729.

Looking for the most recent Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands puzzles.

Do you play the NYT Spelling Bee? If you do, you should be able to ace the purple category in today’s NYT Connections puzzle. Read on for clues and today’s Connections answers.

The Times now has a Connections Bot, like the one for Wordle. Go there after you play to receive a numeric score and to have the program analyze your answers. Players who are registered with the Times Games section can now nerd out by following their progress, including number of puzzles completed, win rate, number of times they nabbed a perfect score and their win streak.

Read more: Hints, Tips and Strategies to Help You Win at NYT Connections Every Time

Hints for today’s Connections groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group, to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Control-C.

Green group hint: Don’t wait till the last minute.

Blue group hint: Pals to plan a heist.

Purple group hint: Think another NYT online game.

Answers for today’s Connections groups

Yellow group: Keyboard shortcut commands.

Green group: Secure in advance.

Blue group: Crime organization.

Purple group: Spellling Bee ranks minus a letter.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is keyboard shortcut commands. The four answers are paste, print, quit and save.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is secure in advance. The four answers are book, order, request and reserve.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is crime organization. The four answers are crew, family, ring and syndicate.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Spelling Bee ranks minus a letter. The four answers are genus, goo, mazing and slid. (Genius, good, amazing and solid.)

Technologies

I Made Google Translate My Default on iPhone Before a Trip and It Saved Me More Than Once

Google Translate supports far more languages than Apple’s app, and it’s easy to make the switch.

If you’re traveling overseas this summer, the Google Translate app can come in handy to quickly translate a road sign or conversation. The latest Google Translate update allows you to pick the app as your default translation app for Apple iPhones and iPads running iOS and iPadOS 18.4 and later. Previously, you were limited to the built-in Apple option.

Google began leveraging AI to boost Google Translate’s offerings, adding 110 languages last year to increase its total support for 249 languages. Compare that to Apple Translate, which supports 19 languages. Neither Google nor Apple responded to a request for comment.

Both apps offer voice and text translation, including a camera feature that lets you instantly translate by pointing your camera at text. Both also allow you to use translation features without an internet connection, which can come in particularly handy when traveling to more remote locations.

After using both, I found that the Google Translate picked up speech a little quicker so I didn’t have to constantly repeat myself, and the audio pronunciations were a little easier to understand than on Apple Translate. I switched to Google Translate as the default on my iPhone, and here’s how you can, too.