iHeartAwards Winners Last Year (2016)

2016 iHeartRadio Music Awards

The iHeartRadio Music Awards present awards to some of the world's most in-demand artists. Host Jason Derulo serve as the show's host. Taylor Swift, per usual, is the queen of the night, leading with eight nominations. The Weeknd has six and Adele, Drake, Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran receive five apiece. Confirmed performances include Zayn, Meghan Trainor, Chris Brown, DNCE, Demi Lovato, Iggy Azalea, Fetty Wap, G-Eazy, Bebe Rexha, Jason Derulo, with performances in other venues by Pitbull, Maroon 5 and The Weeknd.

This is the list of winners below:

Female Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift

Male Artist of the Year: Justin Bieber

Best New Artist: Fetty Wap

Best Duo/Group of the Year: Maroon 5

Album of the Year: 1989, Taylor Swift

Best Tour: Taylor Swift, 1989 World Tour

Alternative Rock Artist of the Year: Twenty One Pilots

Alternative Rock Song of the Year: "Stressed Out, Twenty One Pilots

Rock Artist of the Year: Foo Fighters

Rock Song of the Year: "Heavy Is the Head," Zac Brown Band featuring Chris Cornell

Country Artist of the Year: Luke Bryan

Country Song Song of the Year: "Buy Me a Boat," Chris Janson

Dance Artist of the Year: Calvin Harris

Dance Song of the Year: "Where Are U Now," Skrillex & Diplo with Justin Bieber

Hip Hop Artist of the Year: Drake

Hip Hop Song of the Year: "Hotline Bling," Drake

R&B Artist of the Year: Chris Brown

R&B Song of the Year: "Earned It," The Weeknd

Best Lyrics: "Fight Song," Rachel Platten

Best Collaboration: "Uptown Funk," Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

Best Cover Song: "Uptown Funk," Fifth Harmony, Jasmine V, Jacob Whitesides and Mahogany Lox
covering Mark Ronson featuring Bruno Mars

Best Song From a Movie: "Til It Happens To You," Lady Gaga (The Hunting Ground)

Triple Threat: Selena Gomez

iPhone Emoji Update

Here Are the New Emoji Coming to Your iPhone (and How to Get Them)

by  Lisa Eadicicco - December 12, 2016

Apple is releasing emoji for sneezing, selfies and more.

Apple launched its iOS 10.2 software update for the iPhone on Monday, bringing a wider selection of fresh emoji to choose from, including new professions, facial expressions and foods.

The iPhone emoji keyboard will now come with symbols that represent occupations like teacher, scientist and firefighter, for instance, as well as updated people-themed emoji—including one depicting a pregnant woman. The newly released batch will also bring new types of smiley faces that show different emotions and actions, such as a face with a Pinocchio-like nose.

The update, which officially launched Monday after previously being available in beta, comes as various tech companies and organizations have made an effort to develop emoji that are more inclusive and represent a broader range of people, activities and interests. A group of Google employees proposed a new set of gender-diverse emoji in May, while Facebook rolled out new options for its Messenger platform in June.

Apple’s latest update will bring the company’s recently announced TV app, improvements to the iPhone’s Photos app and new full-screen effects in iMessage.


Here’s how to download and install the update:

1. Back up your iPhone before installing the new software. To do this, navigate to Settings > iCloud > Backup > Back Up Now. You can also connect your iPhone to iTunes on your computer via its charging cable to manually back up your phone.
2. After backing up, open Settings.
3. Tap General.
4. Choose the Software Update option.
5. Make sure your iPhone is connected to Wi-Fi.
6. Tap the Download and Install button to begin the process.

This story was originally published on Time.com.

AMD's Radeon Software Crimson ReLive debuts with features galore

There’s a chill in the air, and the leaves are falling off the trees en masse. You know what that means: It’s time for AMD’s huge annual Radeon software update. Like 2014’s Catalyst Omega and 2015’s Radeon Software Crimson, this year’s refresh packs in some huge new features and extends some existing ones—like the superb Radeon WattMan overclocking tool—to more graphics cards.
This year’s iteration expands on Radeon Crimson to become Radeon Software Crimson ReLive Edition (whew, what a mouthful), named after its highlight ReLive feature. ReLive replaces the Raptr-powered AMD Gaming Evolved app that AMD unceremoniously dumped a few months back. 
It brings a bevy of video recording and streaming options right into AMD’s core software to challenge Nvidia’s popular Share (née Shadowplay) solution.
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s all sorts of new gamer-centric tools, including FreeSync improvements, HDR support, and a feature designed to ratchet down Radeon temperatures and power usage when extra oomph isn’t needed. Separately, AMD’s releasing an easy-to-use benchmarking tool that logs in-game performance across DirectX 11, DX12, and even Vulkan games.
There's a lot, is what I'm saying. Let’s dig in. 

ReLive

It only seems appropriate to start with ReLive. ReLive does everything you’d expect a utility like this to do: video recording, video streaming, instant replays, and screenshot captures. 

The new ReLive tab in Radeon Settings.

Open the Radeon Settings tool and you’ll find a new ReLive tab in the navigation buttons across the top. Selecting it reveals a wealth of options, from simply enabling ReLive—it’s disabled by default—to setting hotkeys, assigning where your gameplay videos will be saved, and deciding whether to record just games or your PC’s desktop as well.

Here’s a picture of the ReLive overlay you can summon in-game:  

From left to right, the icons are:

• ReLive settings
• Instant replay. Saves the last few minutes of your gameplay. You can configure how far back Instant Replay saves in the Radeon Settings tool’s ReLive options, along with granular features like the encoding type and frame rate for recordings.
• Record video. As with instant replay, the ReLive settings (pictured above) let you tweak the details, such as video and audio bitrates and the recording resolution. The video encoding options available to you depend on which graphics card you’re using. And yes, you can opt to record the desktop too. Huzzah!

• Stream to Twitch, YouTube, or other services. Again, you can tweak all sorts of options related to the output.
• Screenshot. Pretty self-explanatory!

Video capture utilities are great—unless they send your in-game frame rates plummeting, in which case they’re garbage. Fortunately, Radeon ReLive appears to fall into the former category. When AMD tested Overwatch, H1Z1 King of the Kill, Battlefield 1, and World of Warcraft—examples of games that are widely streamed—at punishing graphics levels on a system equipped with a Core i7-600K and Radeon RX 480, ReLive’s impact was a mere 3 to 4 percent loss. Always take manufacturer-supplied numbers with a pinch of salt, but that’s impressive.  

Time will tell whether Radeon ReLive winds up being as popular as Nvidia’s vaunted ShadowPlay, but it’s certainly off on the right foot.

Radeon Chill

Radeon Chill

 

AMD’s new Polaris GPU architecture succeeded in driving the energy and heat levels of graphics cards way, way down in the Radeon RX 400-series versus their predecessors, but Nvidia’s new GeForce GTX 10-series graphics cards still hold the energy-efficiency crown. 
The new Radeon Chill feature in Crimson ReLive aims to cool down AMD’s hardware with an assist from software, sort of like a more effective version of AMD’s existing Frame Rate Target Control.
Radeon Chill—which, like the ReLive feature, is disabled by default and must be enabled in the WattMan section of the Radeon Settings app—aims to scale down your graphics card’s GPU usage rather than pump out unneeded extra frames. The feature tracks your computer’s input. 

When your mouse and keyboard go idle for a few seconds, Chill dynamically scales down the frame rate because the on-screen action is static. When you start moving again, the frame rate fluidly ramps back up. Meanwhile, Chill’s constantly working to avoid excessively high frame rates to reduce the load on your GPU. 

AMD says that using Radeon Chill in World of Warcraft results in up to 31 percent power savings and a temperature decrease of up to 13 degrees Celsius, while fan noise is also notably decreased. Like Nvidia’s Fast Sync, the biggest benefits come in less-intensive games that routinely pump out frames far faster than a system’s monitor can display them—think e-sports titles—though you’ll also see a difference in traditional titles, too.  

Radeon software head Terry Makedon says that in “blind taste tests” users don’t see any difference in performance when using Chill, because it was designed to ramp up and scale down frame rates quickly. And if you do see the transition, you can dive into the Radeon Settings profile for specific games and fine-tune how Chill behaves, manually tweaking the minimum and maximum frames per second. 

The games supported by Radeon Chill at launch.

 AMD’s rolling out game support for Radeon Chill using a whitelisting method, which means the company approves specific games and creates profiles for them. Over time, AMD hopes it can move to a blacklisting method instead, Makedon says—disabling Radeon Chill only in games where it doesn’t function properly.  DirectX 9, 10, and 11 games can be supported by Chill at launch.

Microsoft is about to turn a phone into a real PC

Microsoft is bringing a full version of Windows 10, complete with desktop app support, to ARM chipsets. The software giant demonstrated Windows 10 running on a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 chip today, complete with HD video playback, Adobe Photoshop support, and Microsoft Office. Microsoft expects ARM-based laptops to be the first to adopt this new version of Windows 10. 

Traditional x86 desktop apps will be emulated, making the experience seamless to the end user. Laptops might be the first, but it’s easy to see past that and realize that this means Microsoft is about to turn a phone into a real PC.

Microsoft surprised everyone with Continuum for phones last year, a feature of Windows 10 that lets phones turn into a PC. Continuum makes use of Qualcomm chipsets and Windows 10’s new universal apps to scale from a phone screen up to a monitor and includes features that make it feel like a full-blown PC. 

While it might look like a PC, you can’t currently run apps like Chrome or Photoshop, and it’s reliant on developers creating universal apps. Microsoft is making Continuum a lot more powerful next year, thanks to desktop apps.

I’ve used Continuum many times, but its lack of apps mean I always end up switching back to a real PC if I need to do anything more than basic web browsing or Word documents. It feels like a gimmick right now, but a suite of desktop apps that I’m used to using could make it a lot more appealing. 

There have been persistent rumors that Microsoft was working on an Intel-powered Surface Phone, but Intel’s cancelation of its Atom processors put those rumors to rest. It now seems likely that any Surface phone or mini tablet that Microsoft may create will have an ARM chipset and the emulated desktop apps required to turn it into a PC.

 

Turning a phone into a PC is something that the industry has explored before. Motorola attempted it with the Atrix, Asus created a variety of PadFones, and Canonical has experimented with Ubuntu phones turning into PCs, but Microsoft’s dominance in PCs means it’s the only company likely to pull it off at scale. 
Microsoft isn’t discussing its exact mobile plans for Continuum with desktop apps, but the company is ready to support ARM processors for devices with small screens, large screens, and no screens at all.

Microsoft has spent most of 2016 walking back its mobile efforts, after admitting it wasn’t the company’s focus. The software giant gutted its phone business earlier this year, and Windows Phone’s market share has plummeted. Microsoft has refused to walk away from Windows Phone totally, and it’s clear this ARM effort is the reason why.

The challenge Microsoft now faces if it truly wants to spark interest in Windows-powered phones again is that they still need to be primarily a good mobile phone with apps and a vibrant ecosystem. Emulation has its draw backs for performance, and turning a phone into a PC is a great technical achievement, but no matter how good that PC experience is the mobile side will always let the dream down. It’s a challenge that the entire industry will need to face as devices continue to converge.

Apple has iOS apps on the iPad Pro and not the full powerful desktop apps that most professionals need, and it has to rely on Adobe and other developers to invest time and effort into rebuilding those apps. Likewise, Google has Android apps that don’t work well as desktop equivalents, and there are persistent rumors that Chrome OS and Android will merge to meet this challenge. Microsoft is well positioned to meet the desktop needs of these mobile devices, but without the mobile support it won’t be the device that millions will want in their pocket. 

Microsoft has shown recently that it’s willing to invest into niche areas (like the Surface Studio) and appeal to communities of creators to secure its dominance of the PC side of computing. Turning a phone into a PC is just another part of that, even if it only appeals to Windows fans and business customers. 

That sizable audience might be enough to keep Microsoft’s mobile efforts alive until the next big shift in computing. That next shift increasingly looks like mixed reality computing from Microsoft’s perspective, and the company is keen to enable its traditional PC partners to build VR and mixed reality headsets that support its vision for computing beyond the smartphone. Until then, expect Microsoft to keep trying to turn your phone into a real PC.

Tiny Gaming Console Can Play Retro Games From 28 Different Systems

Aside from the pointlessly short controller cables, the only other complaint we have with Nintendo's NES Classic Edition is that it only comes with 30 classic games. There are so many classic consoles and retro titles to choose from, which is why the RetroEngine Sigma might be a better alternative since it promises to emulate over 28 different classic gaming machines.

Nostalgic gamers have been using emulators and downloading ROMs of their favourite games for years now. But installing and configuring the necessary software to perfectly run those retro titles can be a little complicated for some casual gamers who aren't as obsessed with flawless frame rates, or pixel-perfect graphics.
The RetroEngine Sigma sounds like it will make the process of running classic games impossibly easy. Since the tiny console, which includes two USB ports for attaching controllers or Bluetooth adapters, doesn't have a keyboard of its own, users instead connect to it over Wi-Fi using an app on a smartphone or tablet where they can choose what software to install.

The palm-sized console rivals the NES Classic Edition when it comes to its tiny form factor, but the RetroEngine Sigma promises to blow Nintendo's offering away when it comes to functionality. Users can even turn it into a 4K-capable media centre, but it's the RetroEngine Sigma's ability to play everything from Game Boy, to Dreamcast, to even N64 games (hello, GoldenEye) that might make this Indiegogo campaign worth backing.
The first 500 contributors to the RetroEngine Sigma's crowdfunding campaign can pre-order the console for just $US50 ($67), which includes a 16GB microSD card for storing games and media, and even a USB gaming controller so you can start playing one of the 15 included games right away.

The usual caveats apply here given this is a crowdfunded product, and delivery isn't expected until sometime in mid-2017 so you've got a bit of waiting to do before you can start playing. But while the RetroEngine Sigma makes installing and configuring emulators for 28 different systems easy, due to legal concerns you'll have to hunt down copies of all of your favourite classic games yourself. If you're not internet-savvy enough to know where to look, you might want to skip this one.
[Indiegogo - RetroEngine Sigma]

The Latest: Turkish, Russian leaders discuss Aleppo truce

This Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016 photo, released by the International Committee for the Red Cross, shows members of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent laying a patient on stretcher after taking him out of a medical facility in the Old City of Aleppo, Syria. The ICRC said it evacuated 148 disabled or civilians in need of urgent care from the facility, now under Syrian government control. ICRC said in a statement Thursday the evacuation was possible after fighting calmed down in the area. (Syrian Arab Red Crescent/Noor Hazouri via AP)

Beirut — The Latest on the conflict in Syria (all times local):

2:45 p.m.
A senior Turkish official says the fate of the Syrian city of Aleppo has dominated high-level talks between Turkey and Russia.
Turkey's presidential spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, said Thursday there was "intense diplomatic activity" in order to bring about a cease-fire and the delivery of humanitarian aid. He says "the events taking place in Aleppo are of serious concern to all of us."
Kalin says Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is personally engaged in the effort and has spoken three times with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
The Syrian government with the help of its allies has regained almost complete control of the eastern neighborhoods of the divided city in a devastating military offensive.
Russia is a key ally of the Syrian government and has been carrying out airstrikes for more than a year in support of President Bashar Assad's forces. Turkey is a leading sponsor of the opposition.

___
1:05 p.m.
Syria opposition activists are reporting intense government bombings of a number of neighborhoods that remain under rebel control in the city of Aleppo.
They say clashes are underway on Thursday along the fast-moving front line. The opposition Local Coordination Committees says government airstrikes and artillery hit at least six rebel-held neighborhoods in central and southeastern Aleppo
Opposition Thiqa news agency says the government dropped barrel bombs on al-Sukkari and Kallaseh neighborhoods.
Syrian troops and allied militiamen moved swiftly into rebel-held eastern Aleppo less than two weeks ago and are now in control of more than three quarters of the besieged rebel enclave.
Activists are struggling to document casualties because of street clashes and intense bombings.
The Syrian Civil Defense in Aleppo says it was able to record 38 killed in Wednesday's violence. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 were killed in Aleppo's Old City, which was seized by the government Wednesday.

___
12:15 p.m.
The International Committee for the Red Cross says it has evacuated 148 disabled civilians and others in need of urgent care from a facility in Aleppo's Old City that is now under Syrian government control.
ICRC said in a statement on Thursday that the evacuation was possible after fighting calmed down in that part of the city. It said the evacuation was undertaken jointly with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and was completed late on Wednesday.
The government secured the area after repelling rebels, who retreated to the south.
Pawel Krzysiek, ICRC communication coordinator in Damascus, says the evacuees had been "forgotten" amid the fighting.
He says they were trapped in a facility that was originally a home for the elderly. They include mental health patients, elderly orphans, and patients with physical disabilities. Some were injured civilians who had sought refuge there.
Krzysiek says they were evacuated to hospital and shelters in the western, government-held part of Aleppo.

___
11:30 a.m.
Syrian President Bashar Assad says victory in the battle for Aleppo will be a "big gain" for his government but that it will not be the end of the war in Syria.
In an interview published on Thursday in the state-owned newspaper al-Watan, Assad described his forces' fight in Aleppo as one against terrorism and a conspiracy to destroy and divide Syria, allegedly led by Turkey.
Assad says that "liberating Aleppo from the terrorists deals a blow to the whole foundation of this project."
With Aleppo, Syria's largest city and former commercial heart, the capital of Damascus and Homs, the third largest city under his control, Assad says "terrorists" no longer hold any cards.
But he added, "to be realistic, it doesn't mean the end of the war."
"Even if we finish in Aleppo, we will carry on with the war against them."

___
9:40 a.m.
A Russian deputy foreign minister says Russia is close to reaching a deal with the United States on a cease-fire for the besieged Syrian city of Aleppo.
The Syrian government and its ally Russia have rejected previous calls for truce for the war-torn city, keeping up the military offensive that has squeezed and forced rebels to retreat in several areas.
Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying that Moscow and Washington are "close to reaching an understanding" on Aleppo but warned against "high expectations."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met on Wednesday in Germany but didn't release any statements.

Ryabkov said the Kerry-Lavrov talks were extensive but said a final deal has not been worked out yet.

'Everything destroyed': Indonesians face quake destruction

KUTA PANGWA, Indonesia: When the earthquake struck before dawn, Marthonis and his family had no time to run out of their home before it collapsed into ruins around them.
Pinned under concrete in the pitch dark, Marthonis - the chief of Kuta Pangwa village - was not alone.

Every house in his small hamlet was flattened when a 6.5-magnitude quake tore through Aceh province in Indonesia's west, killing more than 100 people.
Marthonis' mother was among the dead, crushed in her sleep.
"My mother didn't survive. Maybe it was her destiny to die in a disaster like this," Marthonis told AFP.

It was not his mother's first encounter with nature's fury - she had survived the destruction of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, that killed 170,000 in Aceh alone.
But for Marthonis - who like many Indonesians goes by one name - there has been little time to grieve.

Faizal, 8, holds a clock showing the time when the earthquake struck, at Kuta Pangwa village. (Photo: AFP)

Fifteen people from his village died in the quake - so many from one family they were buried in a single grave.
As daylight arrived, similar tragedies were unfolding across Aceh, and the scale of devastation becoming clear.

Hundreds of homes, mosques and businesses had been reduced to rubble, burying families in their sleep.
A frantic search for survivors began, many clawing at the rubble with their bare hands.
Rahmawati, 35, was among those pulled from the wreckage five hours after the quake struck.
But she was the only one in her family who made it out alive, her husband and two children were crushed by falling debris.

"I accept this as fate, because in the end we all will be called back to Allah," she told AFP.
As aid pours into Aceh, the villagers from Kuta Pangwa - like thousands of others across the province - must prepare for a second night eating at temporary kitchens and sleeping in shelters.
Hundreds more will spend another evening in ill-equipped health clinics and overcrowded field hospitals, waiting to see a doctor.
As the rubble is slowly cleared, and victims laid to rest, the enormous task of rebuilding will begin.
But it's impossible for Marthonis to contemplate at this stage, as he still comes to grips with the reality his village - and beloved mother - is gone.

"Every one of my villagers' homes is destroyed," he said, gesturing to piles of grey rubble where a neighbourhood once stood.
"Nothing can be occupied again."

- AFP/nc