Hasta La Gadget!

Oculus Rift is a pretty incredible little peripheral, enabling intense and thrilling virtual reality interaction with a variety of PC games. While the device is still in developer kit form, though, finding and sharing games can be a bit on the challenging side. Oculus is making its first attempt to fix that issue today in launching Oculus Share, a web subdomain which gathers Oculus-ready experiences from a variety of devs and runs them through a submissions process before making them widely available.

There are few details on the submissions process, but it sounds like it’s merely a temporary concept. “Initially, we’ll be vetting submissions to make sure the content isn’t offensive or malicious. If you’re planning to submit your work right away, please be patient as we improve and streamline the approval process,” company head Palmer Luckey wrote in an email to Rift backers.

Oculus also hired on a new head of developer relations, Aaron Davies, who’s officially on the lookout for new developers. Of course, considering Oculus just hired one of the most famous developers ever just recently in John Carmack, we’d say other prospects have a mighty high watermark to reach.

Filed under: Peripherals, Internet, HD

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Source: Oculus Share

We’ll admit to being puzzled by Sony’s recently uncovered QX10 and QX100 lens cameras — how do they work? Thankfully, SonyAlphaRumors has answered some of our questions with a leaked user manual. Both cameras are mostly independent from their mobile hosts, with each getting its own battery and storage. The two should also have their own shutter buttons and zoom levers, although the QX100 adds a ring control to go along with its larger sensor. The manual still doesn’t answer questions about price or availability, but there’s a chance that Sony will fill in those blanks at its IFA press event next month.

Filed under: Cellphones, Cameras, Peripherals, Sony

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Source: SonyAlphaRumors

Skip for Moto X surfaced on Motorola’s site briefly yesterday, giving us some insight into the company’s new PIN-free unlocking tool before the $20 product was pulled. Today, though, Google’s smartphone arm has returned to detail the new gadget, which is set to ship for free when you order a device through Moto Maker. According to this morning’s blog post, the typical phone user unlocks their handset 39 times each day — in theory, a device like Skip, which clips to your belt, shirt sleeve or anywhere else you want, will help you reclaim several minutes daily. After pairing the compact NFC accessory with your phone, simply tap your device to unlock it. Each kit also includes three Skip dots, which you can stick onto any surface and use in the same way. Initially, Skip will ship in gray with a black accent, but Motorola plans to make colored versions available as well, beginning this fall.

Filed under: Cellphones, Peripherals, Wearables, Mobile, Google

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Source: Motorola

Motion-based PC interfaces are all the rage, thanks to Microsoft’s Kinect and the folks at Leap Motion. San Francisco-based Haptix is sure it’s got a better solution than the rest, but it needs a healthy $100,000 to get there. The company’s got a Kickstarter page going for its self-titled peripheral that can be clipped to a device or placed on a table to offer up both a 3D sensing layer in the air and a multi-touch layer on a flat surface. The dual layers give you more ways to interact with your device, and a chance to rest your palm on the table, when the whole reaching out thing proves too tiring. In the Kickstarter pitch video below, you’ll also see a Haptix picking up brushstrokes, which could certainly have some cool implications for artists.

Filed under: Peripherals

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Source: Kickstarter

Microsoft has pursued ever more exotic shapes in the name of comfort. Its new Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop might just take the cake, however. The all-wireless bundle’s centerpiece, the Sculpt Ergonomic Keyboard, centers around a U-shaped layout that keeps wrists in more natural positions; there’s also a cushioned palm rest and a separate number pad. Its companion Sculpt Ergonomic Mouse, meanwhile, relies on a gently sloped design that allows for a Start screen shortcut and a tilting scroll wheel. Both the Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop and a stand-alone version of the mouse should ship this month at respective prices of $130 and $60, while the keyboard will fly solo this September for $81.

If your forearms don’t need quite so much coddling, Microsoft is also putting its Sculpt Comfort Keyboard and Sculpt Comfort Mouse together in one kit. The not-so-creatively titled Sculpt Comfort Desktop (shown after the break) drops the number pad and uses more conventional shapes across the board, with the exception of the mouse’s swipe-driven touch tab. We suspect many who buy the Comfort Desktop this month will most like its $80 price — it’s a better deal than the Sculpt Ergonomic Desktop for those who only need the fundamentals.

Filed under: Desktops, Peripherals, Microsoft

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Via: Windows Experience Blog

Source: Microsoft (1), (2)