Hasta La Gadget!

Tobii’s eye-tracking technology continues to make its way to mainstream devices. We’ve seen it work with laptops, arcade machines and Windows 8 tablets, and now Tobii has partnered with SteelSeries to release the EyeX, an eye-tracking accessory meant to work with PC games.

In case you’re not familiar with Tobii’s technology, its eye tracker uses microprojectors to beam near-infrared light to the users’ eyes. Then the trackers’ sensors analyze the reflections of that light along with the user’s facial features to accurately detect where he’s looking.

In the demo below, Tobii shows three ways that eye-tracking can be used to augment StarCraft II. First is the ability to move the view to a particular location by looking at an enlarged view of the mini-map (i.e. a map). Second is the ability to center the view to the point where the user is looking, and finally the ability to order units where to move, attack and more just by looking at the target. Skip to around 2:45 in the video for the demo:

The EyeX can also be used in e-sports broadcasts and to help developers improve their game by showing where a player is looking as he’s playing. Skip to around 12:30 in the video below to see that function in action:

As you can see the hardware seems quite capable, but it’s not going to succeed if developers don’t integrate it – and integrate it well– into their games.

Tobii & SteelSeries will release EyeX developer kits this year for $195 (USD), but for a limited time they can be bought for a steep discount: $95 for US customers and €75 for non-US customers. Just enter the promo code ‘CES2014′ on Tobii’s online shop when prompted. As with its tablet incarnation, I can see the EyeX being a boon not just for creating better or new ways to play games, but to help the disabled play conventional games as well. I hope developers and hardware hackers will explore that possibility too.

[via Tobii via Destructoid]

Traffic apps and email clients are all well and good, but there are few things that really highlight the world-changing potential of the smartphone as well as medical applications. People delivering access to affordable care in developing nations always serve as friendly reminder that our devices can be so much more than distracting casual gaming platforms. Eye examinations are one of the clearest applications on that front — around three years ago, MIT’s Media Lab introduced us to a $2 box that could transform handsets into a mobile eye clinic.

Peek offers much of the same, albeit without the need for a (relatively) bulky add-on. Developed by members of the International Center for Eye Health, the app can conduct visual acuity, color vision tests, among several others. It also keeps a record of patients examined along with geotagged info. You can check out a nice piece on Peek in the via link below, and for more info on the app and the people behind it, peep the source link.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, HD, Mobile

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Via: BBC

Source: Peek

The PlayStation 4’s new DualShock 4 controller can be charged even while the PlayStation 4 is turned off. The PlayStation 4’s new Eye motion camera has a tilt sensor so it can tell players when its facing the wrong direction or if it’s fallen off your TV stand. The PlayStation 4’s Blu-ray disc drive is three times as fast as the PlayStation 3’s. In case it weren’t clear, Sony’s PlayStation 4 panel at this week’s Game Developers Conference wasn’t chock full of major revelations, but it did provide plenty of interesting little details about the PlayStation 4 and its various hardware companions.

For instance, the console’s “True Name” social functionality isn’t automatic — you have to opt-in to who will see your real name versus your PlayStation Network ID. That is, unless you find a friend through Facebook or another social network where your real name is already your main ID; in that instance, the console defaults to displaying your actual name. That’s not the only change coming to your friends list, either, as the standing 100 friends cap is being raised to an unknown amount.

Additionally, the Gaikai-powered Remote Play functionality between the Vita and PS4 is said to be “much better,” according to Sony senior staff engineer Chris Norden. Not only can it display your PS4 games in the Vita’s native resolution (960×544), but it can be activated at any given time rather than having to be preset. And unlike Remote Play on PS3, with PS4 the game being pushed to the Vita is mirrored on your television screen. None of this stuff is what we’d call red hot, but we’re hungry for PS4 details and this is what Sony’s delivering. Here’s hoping the company’s more forthcoming at E3.

Filed under: Gaming, HD, Sony

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One of the Galaxy S III’s most vaunted features was Smart Stay: when it was active, the smartphone’s display would stay awake as long as its owner did. A reported Samsung insider’s tip to the New York Times claims the Galaxy S IV will take that intelligent use of the camera one step further with eye-based scrolling. Theoretically, readers will never have to put finger to glass when scrolling downwards; the phone can tell when they’re looking at the bottom of the page and move to the next section on its own. The hands-off scrolling is supposedly part of a strategy where the software ultimately matters more than the hardware. Chief product officer Kevin Packingham wouldn’t confirm anything for the newspaper when asked, although he didn’t feel the hardware will take a back seat. Either way, consider us intrigued — as long as the software is real, and works in practice. We’ll know the full story in several days.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: New York Times

Yesterday, Gino Covacci was walking peacefully by the sea when he found this: a gigantic, monstrous eye still oozing blood. Scientists haven’t identified the leviathan who lost it yet. Was it a giant squid, a whale, or the eye from a titanic monster born mutant because of nuclear tests? More »