Hasta La Gadget!

Many will tell you that video games are bad for your eyes, but James Blaha doesn’t buy that theory. He’s developing a crowdfunded virtual reality title, Diplopia, that could help restore 3D vision. The Breakout variant trains those with crossed eye problems to coordinate their eyes by manipulating contrast; players score well when their brain merges two images into a complete scene. Regular gameplay could noticeably improve eyesight for adults that previously had little hope of recovering their depth perception, Blaha says. The potential solution is relatively cheap, too — gamers use an Oculus Rift as their display, and they can add a Leap Motion controller for a hands-free experience. If you’re eager to help out, you can pledge $20 to get Diplopia, and $400 will bundle the app with an Oculus Rift headset. Check out a video demo of the therapeutic game after the break.

Filed under: Gaming, Wearables

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Via: Hack A Day

Source: Indiegogo

A big request from parents regarding iOS has been that Apple implement user accounts on its mobile devices, in order to make it so that a parent can sign in with greater access to device features and apps than a child, for instance. It’s a system that already has an analogue on the desktop, and that Google has seen fit to implement with multiple user accounts with varying levels of permissions for tablets running Android 4.3 and higher. A new patent granted to Apple today (spotted by AppleInsider) describes a way of changing device access depending on who’s doing the accessing.

Apple’s newly awarded patent describes a system wherein the method used by a user to unlock a device via gesture-based input would determine what apps are made available, as well as what hardware functions are available. So, for instance, one gesture (could be the drawing of a specific shape or letter with a fingertip) might allow access only to games content on the phones, while another could offer up access to an entire category of apps provided through corporate deployment, but not to other features.

The system Apple has patented also allows for gestures to unlock the phone directly into specific apps, so that one could launch the email app and keep a user within that bit of software exclusively, for instance. Other incarnations could limit access to certain phone features, including the camera and mic, or to in-app purchases, locking down a device for worry-free sharing with a child.

Aside from finally effectively enabling “guest mode” on a device, this patent in action would allow Apple to build a lockscreen launcher that can be operated not only via gestures, but also by voice and by keyboard, mouse or stylus events (all of which are covered by the patent). The potential applications, for use not only among parents but also in schools, in secure data enterprise environments and more are extensive, so hopefully this is one of the patents that Apple actually puts into practice.

Yet more exits for Israeli startups, with the latest two developments a throwback to the hardware and engineering muscle that raised the tech profile of the region in the first place, before the Waze’s of the world got us thinking about Israel as a hotbed of consumer internet companies.

Today, reports leaked out, and we have now confirmed, that Intel has acquired Omek Interactive, a company it had already invested in that makes technology for gesture-based interfaces. At the same time, Israel publication the Calcalist is reporting that Apple is circling around PrimeSense, another developer of gesture-based technology that has been used in Microsoft’s Kinect. Together, the moves could be a sign that gesture-based controls such as those in Microsoft’s Kinect may become even more prevalent.

The Apple/PrimeSense talk, however, appears to be too early, if not altogether inaccurate. The Calcalist’s report notes that this is based around some meetings between the two companies, and that the price for the deal would be around $280 million. But a source at the company described the report as “BS.”

This is “journalist delusion based on unverified and twisted hints,” the source added, also questioning the valuation: “280M? Come on! We’re worth 10 times that. ” Up to now, PrimeSense has raised nearly $30 million from investors that include Gemini Israel Funds, Canaan Partners, Genesis Partners and Silver Lake Partners and bills itself as “giving digital devices the gift of sight.”

Meanwhile, we have contacted Omek, where the person we tracked down on the phone giggled (yes) and then referred us to Intel for any questions.

We have yet to hear back from Intel or investing arm Intel Capital. A post on Harretz notes the deal actually concluded last week. Haaretz has also managed to get a confirmation directly from Intel: “The acquisition of Omek Interactive will help increase Intel’s capabilities in the delivery of more immersive perceptual computing experiences,” the statement says.
Update: Intel has confirmed to me that the transaction has closed. In addition to the same statement it gave Haaretz, an Intel spokesperson added it’s not confirming the value of the deal, and “we are also not disclosing the timelines on future products that integrate this technology.”

The reported value of Intel’s deal for Omek is between $30 million and $50 million. Without actually hearing from Intel on the details, for now there appears to be a few lines of thinking behind why Intel is going beyond being simply a strategic investor. (Omek has raised $13.8 million to date, with $7 million of that coming from Intel Capital.)

The first of these — as explained in a story in VentureBeat, which first reported talks between the two in March of this year — is that Omek may have been in the market to raise more money and that it chose the exit route instead of going it alone.

Another is that Intel wants the technology as part of its bigger moves into 3D visualization and “perceptual computing”, Intel’s catch-all term for gesture, touch, voice, and other AI-style sensory technologies. This is also the subject of a $100 million investment fund Intel launched in April.

And a third is more mundane and cynical, and potentially true regardless of Intel’s wider, more airy ambitions. The blog GeekTime suggests that this is a hardware play: Intel wants Omek for technology that it can embed into chips. The more functionality it can add that will drive new purchases of those chips by device makers, the better:

“The search for worthy power eating technologies to justify the need for yearly chip version upgrades is an integral part of the hardware industries market management strategy,” it writes. “Device companies must be convinced of the need to design their products to support the more expensive vanguard models of the processing world, placing the need for innovation above price point, and even quality in some cases.”

Whether or not the PrimeSense news is accurate, 9to5Mac makes a convincing argument for how the startup’s intellectual property could fit in with other IP at Apple already; and with Apple’s bigger ambitions to develop products that take it further into the living room, specifically with Apple TV.

And that, in the end, seems to be the crux of today’s news as well. However you cut it, and whoever ends up controlling it (in the tech sense), gesture is increasingly coming into focus and will let us get machines to do our bidding with the wave of a hand, or finger, soon.

Don’t think that the Galaxy S 4 has a lock on the concept of touch-free input. Panasonic has bolstered NTT DoCoMo’s summer lineup with the Eluga P P-03E, a 4.7-inch Android phone whose one-handed interface can involve even less finger contact than Samsung’s flagship. Its central Touch Assist feature lets owners unlock their phone, answer calls, preview content and enter text by hovering a digit just above the glass. The handset is no slouch outside of its signature trick, either — it carries a 1080p LCD, a 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 32GB of expandable storage and a sizable 2,600mAh battery. Japanese customers will have their chance at Panasonic’s above-the-screen magic in late June, although we wouldn’t count on the Eluga P reaching the US anytime soon.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Via: The Next Web

Source: Panasonic (translated)

There’s been rampant speculation about what the new Xbox 720 (codenamed “Durango”) video game console might have in store for us later this year, and now we have some answers. As more and more companies jump on the smartwatch bandwagon, the it’s been revealed that the next-gen Xbox won’t be a console in the traditional sense at all. Instead, the entire gaming system will be worn on your wrist, now dubbed XWatch.

By putting the console on the wrist of its player, you’ll be able to play games anywhere you go. For multiplayer gaming, each player will need to wear their own XWatch, but there will no longer be a need for a Kinect, as the watch itself acts as the gesture controller for games. Guess this is how they’ll solve the problem of detecting more than four players as has been previously rumored.

In addition to acting as the game console and controller, you’ll be able to play games on the go, as the watch’s liquid-crystal display will be capable of playing a variety of old school games when not connected to your TV or a network.

There’s not much more detail known yet on the XWatch, but I’d expect well find out more in the coming weeks and months as the next-gen console wars heat up.

UPDATE: Happy April Fool’s Day!