With two massive canines, an L-shaped jaw, and a pouch to carry its young, the saber-toothed marsupial Thylacosmilus atrox sounds like an evolutionary Madlib. But researchers have now described an extra quirk: surprisingly wide-set eyes, more typical of horses and cows than carnivorous animals.
Gamers looking for a more immersive VR experience in their own home might finally get it with Virtuix’s Omni One. Virtuix has been developing the treadmill-like gaming machine for years and, following crowdfunding campaigns, Omni One recently started making its way to backers. Now, Virtuix is kickstarting another round of funding which it has announced will parlay into Omni One being released for sale to the general public later this year.
You might remember the Omni, which launched on Kickstarter in 2013 and was backed within 24 hours. The Omni One is modelled after the Omni Pro, a larger but similar version available in entertainment venues worldwide. The round — or omni directional — treadmill is four feet wide by five feet long, and it weighs about 250 pounds. The safety bit comes in through a vertical bar that holds a shoulder and waist strap, with the latter having a controller positioned on either side of it. It allows users to run, walk, kneel and even jump through a video game. The Omni One can also be folded away when not in use.
Omni One will retail starting at $2,595 plus shipping for the treadmill and a Pico Neo 3 VR headset — customized specifically for Omni One. The price is a bit higher than Virtuix’s initial projection of $1,995. Investors receive a 30 percent discount off the listed price.
It should be noted that while the company says compatibility with other VR games may come further down the line, Virtuix plans to offer first-party games via its own store. There will be 30 titles available at launch, but the company shared in a Facebook post that it has a ‘shortlist’ of around 200.
While the Omni One should be available for customers later this year, it’s unclear how many models will be produced. According to Virtuix, 900 “investors” applied to buy beta units and there are currently 35,000 general subscribers on a waiting list.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/virtuix-omni-one-vr-treadmill-customers-100020114.html?src=rss
Donald Trump’s expected indictment provided the “Tonight Show” host with plenty of comic material.
We were left impressed with Oppo’s Find X5 Pro last year, so naturally, we have high expectations for its successor. As announced earlier, the upcoming Find X6 Pro meets the basic requirements you’d expect from a 2023 flagship: Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor, Sony’s IMX989 “1-inch” sensor for the main camera, a bright 6.82-inch 3,168 x 1,440 AMOLED screen, a generous 5,000mAh battery, an IP68 ruggedness rating and up to 16GB of RAM plus 512GB of storage. As a bonus, Oppo also brought back a periscopic telephoto camera — a missing feature since the Find X2 Pro from 2020 — to make full use of its photopgrahy partnership with Hasselblad, as well as its very own MariSilicon X imaging neural processor.
The Find X6 Pro features what’s arguably the largest external redesign since the Find X3 Pro, with the three rear cameras — all with a 50-megapixel resolution plus optical stabilization — residing within a large circular island. The glass-covered upper part houses the main camera (23mm equivalent), the ultra-wide camera (15mm equivalent), the LED flash and Hasselblad’s logo, while the lower part features the periscopic camera with 3x optical zoom (65mm equivalent) or 6x “in-sensor” zoom — we’ll get to that later. As for video recording, you can get up to 4K at 60fps, though the 32-megapixel punch-hole selfie camera (21mm equivalent) on the other side is limited to 1080p at 30fps.
While the 3x optical zoom on this new periscopic camera may sound less exciting than the 5x counterpart on the Find X2 Pro, it does offer a 6x “in-sensor” zoom. This is thanks to the relatively large Sony IMX890 sensor (1/1.56-inch), which still offers a good amount of pixels even when cropped natively. With a pre-release firmware, I was able to capture impressively clean and sharp shots even at 6x. Of course, any other 10x optical zoom camera would beat this hybrid solution, but this is still a viable alternative, especially given how handy the 3x optical zoom comes in for food photography and the new Hasselblad Portrait Mode — the latter claiming to simulate “the colors and depth of field of Hasselblad’s classic XCD30 and XCD80 lenses.”
As for the ultra-wide camera, it also uses an IMX890 sensor, which is apparently the largest offering to date in this category. Like before, this camera packs a freeform surface lens to minimize distortion, along with a relatively large f/2.2 aperture.
Of course, there are plenty other non-photography goodies on the Find X6 Pro. The 5,000mAh battery is now paired with a new 100W SuperVOOC fast charging, which goes from zero to 100-percent charge in just 28 minutes. Or you can go with 50W AirVOOC wireless charging, which takes 52 minutes to reach a full charge. Oppo also claims to double the battery lifespan with its Battery Health Engine from last year.
In addition to the usual stereo speakers, Oppo implemented a design dubbed “Active Privacy Protection for Voice Calls” to the earpiece, which is apparently “capable of improving sound insulation by up to a factor of 3.5 to reduce audio leakage.” In other words, people stood around you are less likely to eavesdrop on your calls.
Last but not least, while not all flagship phones come with an infrared remote control, some may still appreciate this feature on the Oppo Find X6 Pro to control things like TVs, air conditioners and lights.
The Oppo Find X6 Pro will be available in China from March 24th, with design options including a dual-tone brown (glass plus vegan leather), black (glass) and green (glass). Prices range from 5,999 yuan or about $873 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 6,999 yuan or about $1,018 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).
There’s also a similar-looking but more affordable Find X6, which swaps out the Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip with MediaTek’s Dimensity 9200. Also, its main camera uses an IMX890 instead of the 1-inch IMX989, whereas its ultra-wide camera uses a Samsung JN1 sensor and, sadly, lacks a freeform lens. That said, this phone still packs a generous 4,800mAh battery with 80W fast charging, and it comes with an IP64 ruggedness rating. It’ll be offered in green, gold and black, with prices going from 4,499 yuan or around $654 (12GB RAM with 256GB storage) to 4,999 yuan or about $727 (16GB RAM with 512GB storage).
We’ll be keeping an eye out for international availability, even though it’ll likely be limited to Europe for the west. Stay tuned.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/oppos-find-x6-pro-packs-a-1-inch-sensor-and-a-periscopic-camera-083210934.html?src=rss
“The guy would be terrific and I think he’d do it,” Stern said on his SiriusXM radio show.
Dana Perino suggested the term “woke” is more of a “sense,” a “feeling.”
You most likely know Duolingo as an app you can fire up when you want to learn a new language or at least familiarize yourself with the local tongue of a place you’re visiting. It has ventured into other subject matters over the years, though, and now it looks like the company is also hoping to be the one people turn to when they want to learn about music. According to a job posting (seen by TechCrunch), Duolingo has a small team that’s currently working to build an app for teaching music.
The job ad is for an “expert in music education who combines both theoretical knowledge of relevant learning science research and hands-on teaching experience.” Whoever gets the job will be in charge of making sure that the app is “well-grounded in learning science.” They have to translate “research findings into concrete ideas” that can be used for “learning by doing” activities that Duolingo is known for. They also have to take the lead on curriculum development, which signifies that the app is still in its very early stages.
If and when Duolingo’s Music app comes out, it will join the company’s growing list of learning applications that include its ABC app, which teaches kids how to read and write. It also has an English Test app for language certification and a Math app that uses colorful animations and interactive exercises to help people learn multiplication, division, fractions, geometry and measurements. As TechCrunch notes, the company is most likely diversifying to ensure its survival and income growth in the future. And its plan seems to be working so far: In its earnings report (PDF) for the fourth quarter of 2022, Duolingo revealed that it enjoyed a 67 percent increase in paid subscribers from the year before.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/duolingo-is-building-a-music-learning-app-065408671.html?src=rss
New York Republican Claudia Tenney received multiple reality checks.
The Good Liars troll a right-wing network known for its fealty to the former president.
The limited-availability Dodge Challenger SRT Demon 170 boasts a face-melting 1,025 horsepower and will go from 0-60 mph in just 1.9 seconds.
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