Producers have been fretting about how to do feature films in VR, because the format doesn’t lend itself to traditional Hollywood techniques. However, it’s about to be used on one of the best-known tales of all time: Jesus VR — the Story of Christ,…
The world does not consist of solely your city, state or country. We are living in a global village in the here and now, and hence, it is far from surprising to see the likes of Focal, a leading French speaker and headphone manufacturer, introduce not one or two, but rather, three pairs of premium headphones. These three will be known as the Utopia, Elear and Listen.
Focal’s high-end headphones did not come about by chance. Rather, they were the result of more than 35 years of development and manufacturing of loudspeakers in France, and Utopia is one of those models where no expense was spared during its development in the quest for the ultimate listening experience.
What is so special about Utopia that will hopefully live up to its name in terms of performance? It is the first full-range loudspeaker in a pair of headphones in the world. In other words, this open-back reference headphones have been specially to offer the ultimate listening experience for even the most critical audiophile, where it makes it far more than just an ordinary pair of headphones.
Focused on the ideals of perfection, no stone was left unturned in the creation of Utopia, where even the raw materials were also looked into, in addition to the construction of the drivers, the padding used in the ear cups, and the leather used to wrap them for the ultimate comfort. Heck, even the quality of the cable and packaging used were inspected so that Utopia is given a premium look and feel.
Its driver will make use of beryllium that is 30 times higher cost than gold, where it will boast of a completely open front and open back design. When used alongside a proper headphone amplifier/DAC, it will feature a frequency response from 5Hz to 50kHz, and since the driver assembly is so light, it is able to vibrate 50,000 times per second, resulting in some of the most airy, open-sounding, yet sonically accurate music in any genre.
The Utopia is set to retail for a whopping $3,999, while the lesser Elear is going for $999 a pop with the new Listen headphones being the most affordable of the lot, sporting an asking price of $249.
Press Release
[ Focal introduces Utopia, Elear and Listen headphones copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]
Ubergizmo co-founder Hubert Nguyen trying Gear VR for S6
The Rio 2016 Olympics are nearly upon us and sure, every year many of us gather in pubs, bars, cafes, or host parties at home where we can watch certain sporting events together, but this year if you want to switch it up a bit, you might be interested to learn that NBC will be broadcasting some of the Olympics in virtual reality.
The bad news is that it seems that this will be a Samsung-exclusive as the content will only be available to those who own the Samsung Gear VR headset and the compatible Galaxy smartphones. According to NBC, they expect to have about 85 hours worth of VR programming and that this will be a first for the Olympics. It will also be interesting to see how it will turn out.
We have to say that despite the limitations imposed on the feature, the idea of being able to watch the games like we’re there in person could prove to be rather entertaining, especially since even if you were at the stadium where the games are held, you probably wouldn’t even get a very good look anyway.
Of course the Olympics won’t be the first event to be broadcasted in virtual reality, but from the way things are shaping up, it certainly looks like we can expect more events to be broadcasted in VR in the future.
The Rio 2016 Olympics Can Be Viewed In Virtual Reality , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Sony has in the past put out some great phones, but over the years it has been obvious that the company’s efforts in countries like the US has lessened, and that Sony seems to be concentrating more on its home market of Japan where handsets are usually launched first, followed by a release in the US if at all.
We suppose this was a long time coming but Sony Mobile has officially confirmed that they will be lessening their focus in markets such as India, China, and the US. Apparently this is because Sony expects considerably less growth compared to last year’s estimates (0.3% versus last year’s estimate of 8.1%).
This does not mean that Sony will be exiting these markets. They will continue to operate in these markets, it’s just that maybe when it comes to new handset launches, these markets might not necessarily be Sony Mobile’s first choice, or that they might not spend as much trying to get carrier exclusives or on marketing.
This is kind of a pity as Sony has given us some pretty solid phones in the past, but it is understandable as today’s market seems to shifting towards Chinese OEMs who are known for creating value for money devices.
Sony Mobile To Reduce Focus On India, China, And US Markets , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Yesterday Google confirmed that Android N will be known as Nougat. The update is expected to be released later this year where it will naturally make its way onto Nexus devices first. That leaves the question of which non-Nexus devices will be eligible for the update, and more importantly when will the update be released?
While we’re waiting on other OEMs to make their announcements, HTC has come forward to confirm that at least three of their smartphones will be on the receiving end of the Nougat update. This includes the HTC 10, the HTC One M9, and the HTC One A9. According to HTC, “So sweet. Android Nougat—the next version of Google’s Android—will be coming to the HTC 10, HTC One A9 & HTC One M9.”
While other HTC devices were not announced, it does not mean that they will not receive the update. It is possible that these are the more obvious devices from HTC that will be updated, and we expect that further down the line and with testing, HTC could be adding other devices to the list, so we’ll just have to remain patient.
Other OEMs have yet to confirm the update for their phones, but it is probably safe to assume that if you bought a phone this year, or if it is a flagship handset like the LG G5 or the Samsung Galaxy S7/S7 Edge/Note 7, then you should be able to expect the update as well, but we’ll be on the lookout for any announcements from other companies all the same.
HTC Confirms Android Nougat For The HTC 10, One M9, One A9 , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
With many companies launching wearables, many had expected OnePlus to follow suit. However last year the company confirmed that they were about to launch a smartwatch but decided against it, claiming that they needed to focus on the current products which are phones instead of branching out into too many areas.
This is also why OnePlus decided not to launch a second-gen OnePlus X this year as well. We suppose for a fledgling company that doesn’t have the resources of Apple or Samsung, it made sense, but we’re sure many are always going to wonder what could have been. The good news for those who are curious about OnePlus’ plans, the company’s co-founder Carl Pei recently posted a sketch of the OnePlus smartwatch on his Twitter account.
According to Pei, “What could have been but never will be. Sketches circa 2015.” As you can see from the drawings, OnePlus had planned a smartwatch with a round face, which is kind of the norm these days. It’s hard to tell the exact design just by looking at the drawings, but we are reminded a bit of the Moto 360.
The drawings also suggest that the main component of the watch can be detached from the band, allowing users to swap bands easily, but other than that it is unclear as to what kind of features there might be, although from what we can tell it doesn’t look like a heart rate sensor was part of it. Perhaps in the future OnePlus could revisit wearables, but for now we’ll just have to live with what could have been.
This Is What The OnePlus Smartwatch Could Have Looked Like , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Earlier this year, BlackBerry’s CEO confirmed that we could expect at least two new Android smartphones. So far there have been several leaks of at least one of the devices which is codenamed Hamburg, named after a city in Germany. However it seems that’s not all that BlackBerry could be working on.
A report from Evan Blass on VentureBeat has revealed that the company could have at least 3 more Android phones in the works codenamed Neon, Argon, and Mercury, which seems to be a departure of BlackBerry’s habit of giving their phones codenames based around cities, but perhaps these devices could also mark a new direction for the company’s mobile plans.
As for the specs and features, the Neon is said to be the first to market and will be a low-mid range handset with a 5.2-inch Full HD display, an aluminum frame, and a Snapdragon 617 chipset. There will also be 3GB of RAM, 16GB of storage, and a 13MP rear-facing camera and an 8MP front-facing camera.
Next up is the Argon which is rumored for October. It will feature a 5.5-inch QHD display, a Snapdragon 820 chipset with 4GB of RAM, 32GB of storage, a fingerprint reader, and a 21MP/8MP rear/front-facing camera combo. Last but not least is the Mercury which is the only handset of the trio to sport a physical keyboard.
The design is expected to be similar-ish to the Passport in which the keyboard will not be retractable unlike the Priv. It will come with a 4.5-inch Full HD display, a Snapdragon 625, 3GB of RAM, and an 18MP/8MP camera combo. It is also rumored to arrive in Q1 2017. Needless to say this should be taken with a grain of salt for now, but for BlackBerry fans looking forward to more Android alternatives, you could be expecting quite a few this year.
BlackBerry ‘Neon’, ‘Argon’, ‘Mercury’ Android Phones In The Works [Rumor] , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
One of the features of the OnePlus 3 is its display, which according to the company has an Optic OLED display, which is basically an OLED display that has been customized to OnePlus’ specifications, and it is also a feature that the company’s co-founder has vigorously defended against its detractors.
We suppose at the end of the day it really comes down to your personal preference in what you like from a smartphone display, but it seems that’s not all. According to several users, it seems that their OnePlus 3 handset has been plagued with a weird yellow smudge, which you can see for yourself in the videos above and below.
Now in the past we have seen similar cases happen to other phones, which sometimes can be attributed to the glue/bonding agent not having enough time to set, but is expected to go away eventually. It is unclear if this is the case here, but in the second video below, towards the end you’ll notice that when Night Mode has been disabled, the screen appears to go back to normal.
So could this be a software issue that OnePlus will be addressing in its promised update? Or could this be a hardware problem? We guess we’ll have to wait for the company to respond, but in the meantime any of our readers with OnePlus 3 handsets are affected similarly?
Some OnePlus 3 Users Complaining Of Yellowish Smudge On Their Screens , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Amnesty encourages unlawful immigration by …favoring those who come to this country illegally over those who wait in the legal immigration system. Increasing border security … does not fix our problems it only piles unaffordable costs on the abuse of failing entitlement programs… The average illegal immigrant household receives more in benefits than they pay in taxes.” Heritage Foundation
In addition, “illegal immigrants account for approximately 75 percent of drug possession cases… ” according to Jonathan Turley, U.S. Sentencing Commission.
Undocumented immigrants have landed in Syracuse New York, my hometown enforce. The Near Westside, one of the oldest Syracuse neighborhoods where, in the early 1900’s many wealthy families including the Mayor of Syracuse lived in stately homes, beautiful fountains, etc., today, is impoverished and home to Syracuse’s growing Latino community with high numbers of Puerto Rican and Cuban families. Described today, Syracuse is one of America’s poorest cities in the country.” United Way of Central New York. As a result, many native Syracusan’s and countless others have moved away.
All that aside, regardless of how you feel about Donald Trump’s proposal to deport 4 million illegal immigrants or the Supreme Court rejecting President Obama’s Executive order to try and circumvent Congress and allow the millions of undocumented immigrants to stay in this country, obtain work permits and receive a host of government benefits … or even how you feel about crime and our very real inability to properly vet these undocumented workers to protect our citizens from terrorists, there is an even more practical question that faces America as demographics dramatically shift and immigration issues intensify: the aging population of America and our declining domestic birth rates.
Americans’ life expectancy will soon hit 80 and those over 65 will make up almost 25 percent of the population. With fertility rates of less than two births per woman we are destined to be a country of elders and not youth. This has tremendous consequences for our economy and culture.
A more practical argument: who will run our factories and farms in 20 years? Who will care for our baby boomers as they require nursing home care? Undocumented workers take the housekeeping and hospitality jobs, CNA (Certified Nursing Assistants) positions, manufacturing, manual and menial jobs Americans don’t want. While undocumented workers may fill employment vacancies, it is eroding our communities and our culture. Ref. Syracuse, New York.
According to my brother, Stephen Sarsfield Bowman, President, Peregrine Companies, “history shows us that really no foreign immigrant group has been spared the wrath of racially based stereotypes from the previously admitted older “native” Americans. After the Civil War came the great wave of immigration creating tens of millions of new Americans which was not to end until the Immigration Act of 1924 which established minimal quotas. This legislation was intended to target mostly Italians and Greeks who, based on Social Darwinist ideas about their mental inferiority, were undeserving of American citizenship. The Japanese however, for the same reason, were banned completely until 1952. A new brutal strain in the American character has been exposed.” We should refer to and learn from history and deal with it.
Judith Bowman is president and founder of Protocol Consultants International and author of “Don’t Take the Last Donut…” and “How to Stand Apart @ Work … ” Email her at Judith@protocolconsultants.com.
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
One of the benefits of being of a certain age is that you really can look back and dish out advice based on decades of experience! And no, I don’t mean the kind where you explain to your kids how, back in the day, you walked to school in the snow, uphill both ways, with no coat or mittens, barefoot. I’m talking about the kind of insight you dispense after you’ve learned to make the most from experience while also keeping up with the times.
Today I feel compelled to tell you that, if you believe you haven’t “made it” yet, that you haven’t peaked, no matter what your age, you should not feel bad. You should rejoice!
I will illustrate my point with an anecdote.
When Facebook became available to everyone, we all started searching for our long-lost school-day friends, and even our first loves. I was in my early 40s when this happened and of course my school-day peeps were my age.
(c) Lorraine C. Ladish — At 18 or 19 I felt pretty lost.
I had not seen some of them for a couple of decades or more, so a lot of life happened to all of us in that time. Well, at least to those who actually made it that far. Others had died from drug and alcohol abuse, illnesses, and even war. That’s life too.
So, back to my point, I was surprised to find that a lot of the “popular” kids at school, the ones who had peaked young, now wore middle-aged frowns and carried jaded attitudes. They had an “is this all there is to life” outlook. It was a shock to me.
You see, I was bullied as a kid, well into my teens. At school, I was a misfit, a weirdo, a wallflower. For many years after that, I felt I didn’t know what I was doing or where I was going. Sure, I wanted to write, but I didn’t know what to write, or how to get my work published. I wanted to be a young mom. But I couldn’t find the ideal partner to have kids with.
Fast forward to my 40s, checking out my own profile picture on Facebook and my “about me” description. Suddenly, I felt pretty good about myself.
I had already published over a dozen books and become a mom — two of my highest aspirations in life. I still did not feel that I’d “made it,” but I also did not feel bitter at life.
A year or two after joining Facebook my world crumbled and I found myself divorced and in dire straits. Despite those tough times, I never, ever, thought, “is this all there is?” I still had dreams, I still had passions, I still had life and a strong will to live it!
In my 40s I cherished my hobbies, sports, friends, family and hope. I believed that the actions I took today would carry me into a better tomorrow. And indeed, they did. In my 50s I went on to launch a profitable digital business, I happily remarried and continue to write books.
Despite some tough times, I never, ever, thought, “is this all there is?”
I realize that, unfortunately, I’m not the norm in having this outlook on life. So, I’ve taken a closer look at not only my schoolmates, many of whom I can barely recognize in their defeated older selves, but also at other people my age.
I can see a pattern. Those who were popular or even academically successful at school and college do not necessarily feel accomplished or satisfied with their life now that they’re in their 40s and 50s or beyond. Their youthful ambitions are long gone. They seem to be living off of their memories.
On the other hand, those who went through school and college (unless they dropped out) without making a mark, seem to have found their wings later in life and have gone on to accomplish great things, form strong relationships, and feel good about themselves.
(c) Lorraine C. Ladish — two months shy of 53, my energy and outlook is more youthful than in my youth!
Those are the friends I love to spend time with today — the people who keep reinventing themselves, never resting on their laurels, always looking forward to the next project, the next invention, the next enterprise. The thinkers, dreamers and doers.
I don’t have such fond memories of my school days … but on the other hand I lived the first half of my life in a way that made me feel I was always moving forward. I was always exploring, always learning. Sure, mistakes were made. But I turned them into opportunities to make the next experience better. I aspire to live the second half of my life the same way.
Today, a couple months shy of my 53rd birthday, I still don’t feel like I have peaked. I also don’t look back to this or that time in my life wishing I was as successful or happy or carefree as back then. And that’s a great thing, because what keeps me going is the pursuit, the chase, the creation, the journey. I think if I ever get to feel that I’ve “arrived,” that would be the beginning of the end.
If you feel you haven’t peaked, whatever your age, allow me to congratulate you. Good for you! You aren’t a has-been! You don’t need to live in the shadow of your past glories.
You still have the opportunity to enjoy the process of achieving whatever it is you want to achieve. Go for it! Please enjoy every step of the way, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes.
Never, ever, give up on the pursuit of your dreams.
They will always carry you to the next step up.
[This post first ran on LorraineCLadish.com]
Earlier on Huff/Post50:
— This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
