No stranger to patent trolls, Google has introduced a program they’re calling the ‘Patent Purchase Promotion’. Equal parts patent purchasing clearinghouse and troll roadblock, Google’s scheme will allow those interested in selling patents an avenue for submitting the patent, setting a price, and allowing Google to review the offer. After a review period, Google will either make an offer or … Continue reading
A smartwatch arguably needn’t be too smart if you’re sat at your desk all day. Out on the road, however, if Apple Watch is going to be a useful traveling companion then it needs to step up: that generally means allowing your iPhone to stay in your pocket more often. Meanwhile, battery life becomes all the more critical when you’re … Continue reading
Over the weekend, a massive earthquake hit Nepal. As rescuers continue to find survivors amidst the chaos, their families around the globe wait in anticipation for word their loved ones are alive and well. In a time of crisis, T-Mobile is doing the right thing. The Uncarrier is the first carrier to make all calls and texts to and from … Continue reading
If you’re heading to the All England Lawn Tennis Club in June to enjoy some strawberries and cream and perhaps snap the odd selfie while watching the world’s best tennis players, we have some bad news: Wimbledon has banned the selfie stick. Laid out …
The roster of credit cards that work with Apple’s mobile payments platform has always had one notable absentee. Thankfully, the folks at Discover have realized that there’s little to be gained from not being available to use on Apple Pay. That’s why …
We knew ESPN wasn’t happy with Verizon’s recently announced flexible TV plans, and now it is ready to take legal action on the matter. According to CNBC, The Worldwide Leader in Sports is suing Verizon over the FiOS Custom TV package, only days after…
As someone who’s never owned a Windows computer or any gaming computer for that matter, I was very surprised when I found out that the Mass Effect games for Windows never launched with and still don’t have native controller support. I know about it now only because ME3 Explorer forum member Moonshine released a mod for ME2 that adds the feature, including the appropriate UI.
I’ve no way of testing the mod personally, but from what I understand the modded files will work with a variety of game controllers including the DualShock 4, it’s just that Moonshine’s UI will only display Xbox 360 buttons. A small inconvenience for a badly needed feature. Here’s a demo of the mod by YouTuber gojeran:
Proving just how much people want the feature, after his laptop crashed Moonshine was able to raise about $625 (USD) on Indiegogo so he could get a new laptop and make the same mod for Mass Effect 1 & 3. Here are a few screenshots of Moonshine’s ME3 mod:
Moonshine’s first upload of his Mass Effect 2 mod was taken down by a DMCA notice, but he’s since re-uploaded the file, which you can find along with the installation instructions on his ME3 Explorer forum thread. He also hinted there that the Mass Effect 3 mod – at least its first version – will be up by next week, so stay tuned.
How baffling is it that these games still don’t have such a basic feature? I can understand not being able to include it at launch due to resource constraints, but after 4 or 5 years you’d think BioWare could’ve bothered to do what one modder is doing. Then there’s the DMCA notice. If you’re not going to add the support, why are you trying to stop someone else who’s trying to do your job for free?
We’ve featured a few augmented reality tattoos before, but in all of them the QR code or bar code were visible, if not the only figure drawn onto the skin. Illustrator Sutu’s take on the permanent trick hides the magic in plain sight.
Sutu’s tattoo looks just like one of the scenes from Modern Polaxis, an interactive comic book that he launched last year. The comic book has a companion iOS app that reveals animations and sound effects when you hover your iOS device over some of its illustrations.From what I can tell Sutu mapped the augmented reality app’s effects to the comic book’s illustrations, i.e. the illustrations themselves are the codes. I think the app recognizes the tattoo as one of the illustrations from the comic book, causing it to trigger the effects.
Clever work, dude! I think this discreet form of augmented reality has lots of practical applications as well, especially if the app could somehow update the graphics overlay or have smart image recognition.
[via Sutu via Prosthetic Knowledge]
An X-Wing has made it to space in real life, thanks to a project by a two-person space photography outfit from Essex, UK launched as an attempt to get tickets to the Star Wars: The Force Awakens VIP premiere. Project Helium Tears, which uses weather balloons to take pictures of Earth from the very edge of space, fixed an X-Wing model to one of their balloons and sent it up, capturing the flight… Read More
Rice is a popular food the world over, especially in Asia. It tends to be fairly high in starchy calories that can eventually turn into fat if one isn’t tearing about wearing it off. While the obesity epidemic has not really hit Asia yet, people there are starting to gain weight as they are eating more and more rice. What to do? Scientists in Sri Lanka have found a simple fix in the way rice is prepared that can cut calories by up to 50%.
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