Hasta La Gadget!

If 13th Lab has its way, you could soon be playing first-person games using your surroundings as a battlefield. Or a space station, a temple and anything else you can imagine. The computer vision company is working on Rescape, an FPS platform for mobile devices that can scan and digitize your environment, turning it into a video game map.

13th Lab uses a robotics technique called Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). With the help of cameras and sensors, SLAM allows a device to make a map of its environment and place itself – i.e. know its location – within the map that it just made. The end result is shown in the image above. If you look closely you can see that the iPhone is showing a virtual equivalent of the player’s environment – everything from the structures, objects and even other players. 13th Lab calls this mix of augmented and virtual reality Reality Gaming.

As of now, a Rescape package includes a 180º fisheye lens and an adjustable gun controller with a trigger and a d-pad. To drive costs down and make it easier for app developers to port their FPS games, Rescape will make use of your mobile device to map and digitize your environment, as well as track your position.

The Rescape software development kit (SDK) handles the mapping feature, as well as the ability to digitally paint over a map and turn it into your battle ground of choice. I don’t know if the SDK will be simple enough for normal folks to understand and use though.  As I mentioned, mobile game developers can port existing FPS games into the Rescape platform, but that’s not as fun as turning your house or university into a game map.

Pledge at least $39 (USD) on Kickstarter to get the Rescape controller and Office Defender, the game shown in the video. Pledge at least $129 and you get the controller, the game and the Rescape SDK. When it launches Rescape will only support the iPhone 5, 5C and 5S, with “experimental support” for the iPhone 4S. 13th Lab promises that it will provide support for Android devices within a few months after the launch.

[via InStash]

An interesting new product is on Kickstarter that those who often lose things and are too lazy to lock their computer each time they walk away from it will appreciate. The product is called GateKeeper and it is a combination of a Bluetooth locating device and a proximity lock.

The proximity feature will automatically lock and unlock your PC or Mac when you walk away from it. That will keep your machine from sitting unprotected until your screen saver password protection kicks in.

The Bluetooth locator feature is just what it sounds like. It is a feature that will set off an alarm on your smartphone if you walk away from something you have tagged like a smartphone or bag. A pledge of $35(USD) or more will get you one GateKeeper this July. Fundraising ends at 11am CDT tomorrow, so you’ll want to move quickly if you want one.

There are two reasons why I’m not a fan of most wireless chargers for mobile devices: they make it awkward to use your device while it’s charging and they require bulky cases for your mobile device. Slimo easily takes care of my second complaint. The first one? Not so much.

Unfortunate name choice aside, Slimo is indeed slimey slim. Instead of a bulky case it takes the form of a conductive patch that’s just 0.014″ thick. The patch delivers power to newer iOS devices via a Lightning connector. This means that you can attach Slimo without removing your iOS device’s case. You can even keep it underneath a case, as long as the latter isn’t made of metal. Slimo will work with any charging base that complies with the Qi Wireless standard.

Place your browser flat on your computer and try using it without lifting it off. Then pledge at least £22 (~$37 USD) on Kickstarter to get a Slimo patch as a reward. Pledge at least £39 (~$65 USD) to get a Slimo and a wireless charging base combo.

[via Likecool]

High quality microscopes cost thousands of dollars and can be hard to operate and maintain. A group of researchers from Stanford University are close to changing that with a microscope that’s made mostly out of paper and costs less than a dollar to make.

The Foldscope was conceptualized by Jim Cybulski, James Clements and Asst. Prof. Manu Prakash. They were moved to develop the revolutionary microscope because they wanted to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases in developing countries. In his recent TED presentation, Asst. Prof. Prakash said that right now it can take months for patients in developing countries to get diagnosed and treated partly because microscopes are bulky, hard to maintain and expensive to acquire . So they set out to design a microscope that’s portable, easy to operate and can be mass produced at low costs. It looks like they succeeded.

In their paper, Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash. said that the Foldscope can provide a magnification of up to 2,000X depending on the lens used. All of its components can be packed on a single sheet of card stock, which can also serve as an instruction manual.  Foldscope is also resistant to impact and water. It’s so small that you can carry multiple Foldscopes in your pocket. The only part of the microscope that needs electricity is an LED, which can last over 50 hours on a button cell battery. Best of all, it only costs between $0.58 to $0.97 to make. Below is Asst. Prof. Prakash’ TED presentation about the Foldscope:

How amazing is that? A copy of Jim, James and Asst. Prof. Prakash’s paper is available from the Cornell University Library archive. If you want to get your hands on one, head to the Foldscope team’s website and apply to become one of the their 10,000 beta testers.

[via Wired via Reddit]

Are you still on the search for the perfect iPhone case to match your personality? For some, it’s near impossible, considering how their personalities change on an almost-daily basis (you know what they say about self-discovery being an ongoing process…)

But with the advent of the 3D-printed Fraemes iPhone cases, then that first-world problem might be put to rest.

Fraemes are a welcome change in the current sea of bland phone cases on the market: they’re colorful, customizable, and interchangeable so you can swap the designs out for another, depending on your current mood or what you feel like at any given time.

The Fraemes team has collaborated with designers and will be offering 150 designs to choose from when they officially launch. Aside from the many designs and patterns available, the inserts can be customized further in terms of their color and by adding text and shapes. You can even upload your own designs and have them rendered.

Fraemes are up for funding on Kickstarter through March 27, where a pledge of $25(USD) or more will get you one of your very own. A $50 pledge gets you a custom design, while a $250 pledge will get you a dozen, so you can have a different look for each month of the year.