Hasta La Gadget!

It’s not possible to change your PlayStation Network username. If you made one years ago that’s embarrassing for you now then the only option you have left is to ditch that account and make a new one because as it stands, changing PSN usernames is not possible. Sony might finally let you do that, though, if a new report is to be believed.

It goes without saying that many PSN users have been repeatedly calling on Sony to allow them to change usernames. It’s one of the most highly requested features by the community and it appears that Sony might finally deliver.

Kotaku hears from three anonymous multiplayer game developers at three different studios who have been fixing issues and settings on their games to prepare for potential PSN name changes. A fourth source sent the scribe documentation claimed to be from Sony which shows a PSN profile with an “edit username” prompt next to it. The source mentioned that this image was from a document that explained how to change a PSN username.

Sony might very well be working on this but it’s not known at this point in time when it will finally enable PSN members to change their username. At least this goes to show that the company has been thinking about making this happen for users.

Sony May Soon Allow PSN Username Changes , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.

For demonstrators across the country, this is the last stand.

No matter how skeptical we were from the very beginning the Apple Watch is everywhere now. You see them on the wrists of all kinds of people—not just tech nerds. It is officially a thing. And as of the Series 3 last year, it was even a pretty good thing that you could buy without feeling annoyed to hell by…

Read more…

Whenever I see an overpass or billboard that’s been tagged, I worry about the tagger and the danger they exposed themselves to in order to get that cherry spot. Perhaps this spray paint-toting drone developed by ETH Zurich and Disney Research will take some of the danger out of the hobby. It could also be used for murals and stuff, I guess.

Although it seems an obvious application in retrospect, there just isn’t a lot of drone-based painting being done out there. Consider: a company could shorten or skip the whole scaffolding phase of painting a building or advertisement, leaving the bulk of painting to a drone. Why not?

There just isn’t a lot of research into it yet, and like so many domain-specific applications, the problem is deceptively complex. This paper only establishes the rudiments of a system, but the potential is clearly there.

The drone used by the researchers is a DJI Matrice 100², customized to have a sensing rig mounted on one side and a spraying assembly on the other, counterbalancing each other. The sprayer, notably, is not just a nozzle but a pan-and-tilt mechanism that allows details to be painted that the drone can’t be relied on to make itself. To be clear we’re still talking broad strokes here, but accurate to an inch rather than three or four.

It’s also been modified to use wired power and a constant supply of paint, which simplifies the physics and also reduces limits on the size of the surface to be painted. A drone lugging its own paint can wouldn’t be able to fly far, and its thrust would have to be constantly adjusted to account for the lost weight of sprayed paint. See? Complex.

The first step is to 3D scan the surface to be painted; this can be done manually or via drone. The mesh is then compared to the design to be painted and a system creates a proposed path for the drone.

Lastly the drone is set free to do its thing. It doesn’t go super fast in this prototype form, nor should it, since even the best drones can’t stop on a dime, and tend to swing about when they reduce speed or change direction. Slow and steady is the word, following a general path to put the nozzle in range of where it needs to shoot. All the while it is checking its location against the known 3D map of the surface so it doesn’t get off track.

In case you’re struggling to see the “bear,” it’s standing up with its paws on a tree. That took me a long time to see so I thought I’d spare you the trouble.

Let’s be honest: this thing isn’t going to do much more complicated than some line work or a fill. But for a lot of jobs that’s exactly what’s needed — and it’s often the type of work that’s the least suited to skilled humans, who would rather be doing stuff only they can do. A drone could fill in all the easy parts on a building and then the workers can do the painstaking work around the windows or add embellishments and details.

For now this is strictly foundational work — no one is going to hire this drone to draw a Matterhorn on their house — but there’s a lot of potential here if the engineering and control methods can be set down with confidence.

Fitbit announced its updated Charge 3 fitness tracker in August and it has now confirmed the price and release date for this product. Customers will be able to choose from two models. There’s the Core version and a Special Edition which comes with NFC that enables Fitbit Pay. Both models will be available for purchase later this week.

Fitbit has confirmed today that the updated Charge 3 is going to be available for purchase starting October 7th. The Core version starts at $149.95 while the Special Edition costs $169.95.

While the new Charge 3 is going to be available for purchase starting October 7th, Fitbit mentions on its website that some features will arrive after its launch. They include the ability to send quick replies on Android and third-party apps.

The new fitness tracker has an overhauled design compared to its predecessor in addition to a high-resolution screen which is protected by Gorilla Glass. It’s fashioned from aluminum and thus feels more premium. There are improved oxygen and heart rate sensors as well as water resistance.

Fitbit says that the battery life on this product has been considerably improved. It promises that the device will last up to seven days on a single charge compared to five that the Charge 2 was capable of.

Fitbit Charge 3 Price And Release Date Confirmed , original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.