According to Microsoft, Kinect on the Xbox 360 never really reached its full potential (that seems rather obvious, in hindsight). The experiences simply weren’t as rich as the studio was hoping for. That’ll chance with the Xbox One – at least, that’s what they want to happen.
A few months ago we found out about the Durovis Dive, a virtual reality gaming headset for Android smartphones. A similar device called vrAse is now looking for funding on Kickstarter. The company behind it claims that future versions will be compatible with all smartphones.
Like the Dive, vrAse uses your smartphone to display 3D content. vrAse is also highly customizable. For instance, you can change its case or its optics to fit your needs. In its default state, its optics can emulate a 200-inch movie screen, though they don’t specify what distance that would be viewed at. Most of all, you can easily upgrade its “hardware.” All it takes is to swap in a better phone.
Pledge at least £48 (~$74 USD) on Kickstarter to get a vrAse case as a reward. But before you pledge know that the Kickstarter release of vrAse will only be compatible with six smartphones: the iPhone 5, the HTC One, the Sony Xperia Z, the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 2.
I’m excited to see 3D gaming being more and more affordable, but I don’t think we can compare vrAse to the Rift. First off, the vrAse is only compatible with media and games that are in Side by Side (SbS) format. Second, it doesn’t seem to have its own head-tracking software, which is a big part of what makes the Rift so immersive. Perhaps developers can integrate head-tracking into their games or apps if vrAse takes off. Finally, the Rift has a distinct advantage in terms of hardware, because PCs are more powerful than even the latest smartphones. Still, I think many people would love to enjoy immersive 3D video or mobile games for the right price. Perhaps Dive and vrAse are on to something here.
[via DVICE]
We’ve featured a sound system called the Transparent Speaker, which really only has a glass case. Two post-doctoral fellows at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) made an actual transparent speaker. It’s stretchable too. But the loudspeaker is not an electronic device; it’s an ionic device.
Instead of electrons, Jeong-Yun Sun and Christoph Keplinger’s speaker uses ions in an electrolyte to transport electric charge. The speaker is made of a thin and transparent sheet of rubber sandwiched between two layers of polyacrylamide gel filled with saltwater. When a high-voltage current is passed through these layers, the rubber sheet acts as a diaphragm. Harvard SEAS reports that this clear device can produce any sound in the “entire audible spectrum”, from 20Hz to 20KHz.
The speaker demonstrates two of the key advantages of an ionic device over an electronic device – transparency and elasticity – but there’s a third benefit: biocompatibility. Ionic devices are easier to incorporate into living creatures compared to electronics. They may also be used to create what Keplinger calls soft machines: “Engineered ionic systems can achieve a lot of functions that our body has: they can sense, they can conduct a signal, and they can actuate movement. We’re really approaching the type of soft machine that biology has to offer.”
With that kind of potential, it’s not surprising that there have been previous efforts to make ionic conductors for practical use. Harvard SEAS explained that ionic conductors are prone to undergoing chemical reactions – including, uhm, combustion – when exposed to high voltage, and that ions move slower through a circuit compared to electrons due to their size and weight. Fortunately, Sun and Keplinger’s ionic conductor “overcomes both of these problems.” You can read the full report on Harvard SEAS’ website.
[via The Verge]
In what is perhaps the most science-fiction worthy story of the week, scientists at Harvard have created a gel-based speaker that is both clear and stretchy, able to play music while demonstrating the abilities of ionic conductors. To show off its capabilities, the scientists used it to play the “Morning” prelude from Peer Gynt. You […]
Hybrid and ZEV car prices could rise by up to $4,000 as battery technology fails to keep pace with dwindling federal tax credits, Toyota has warned, despite aggressive targets for low-emission cars in the US. Development of cheaper, more power-dense batteries are likely to bring down the cost of building cars like the Prius, Toyota’s […]
The Lycurgus Cup, a 1,600-year-old Roman chalice housed in the British Museum, had baffled scientists ever since the piece was acquired back in the 1950s. When lit from the front the chalice appears as a beautiful jade green. Oddly, when lit from the back it turns a bright blood red. The mystery was solved in 1990 when researchers were able to view broken shards of the cup. That was when they discovered that the Romans had been working with nanotechnology.
Modern smartphones only have a few buttons, which by default are stuck performing one or two actions. The pull down shortcut menu in Android devices is a great way to access some of the most toggled settings, but you might have other apps or actions that you want to activate quickly. That’s where Pressy comes in.
Pressy is a small button that plugs into the headphone jack of an Android device, providing you with an extra input method. It will have a companion app where you’ll set your shortcuts. The video below indicates that you can set 1, 2 or 3 clicks, and each click can be long or short. If that’s true, that means you can save up to 14 shortcuts at once. For instance, you can set a single short press of Pressy to activate your camera or three long presses to close all running apps.
Also, in the video you’ll see that users will be able to activate the shortcuts using headsets that have playback buttons, so in theory Android users will be able to enjoy Pressy’s features without spending a cent.
As of now Pressy will only work with devices running Android 2.3 and up. The company behind Pressy, Nimrod Back, said that Pressy may come to iOS but via Cydia, i.e. it will only run on a jailbroken iOS device. Pledge at least $17 (USD) on Kickstarter to earn a Pressy as a reward.
It seems like a great accessory, but as of this writing, backers have at least one crucial unanswered question about Pressy: Will a device recognize Pressy as a headphone? Because that might break some basic features. For instance, it could block the audio from an incoming phone call, because the phone is sending the audio to a headphone or headset that’s not actually there. Hopefully Nimrod Back responds to that soon.
[via The Next Web]
Despite tremendous technological advancements over the last several decades, there are still numerous challenges which face the world every day. The Air Force has just launched a new website to encourage collaborative problem solving, and to create solutions which could someday be used in the field to help save troop and civilian lives or improve operational efficiency.
The newly launched website is called The Air Force Collaboratory, and it presents different projects which could use your help. The site introduces participants to situations which could use innovative technological solutions, ranging from search and rescue operations, to using quadrotor technology to autonomously navigate its surroundings, to helping to launch its newest GPS satellites.
Participating in The Air Force Collaboratory is open to anyone. You start out by watching a briefing video before joining a specific project, and then have access to research on the subject to help provide a foundation for your contributions. Of course, you’re encouraged to bring your own perspective and experiences as well.
The site then poses brainstorming challenges to stimulate ideas and encourages discussion among participants which may drive further research and development.
There are already some fascinating ideas that have been posted to this particular thread, including one submission that suggests that a set of quadrotors could be used to generate X-ray and thermal imaging to help locate trapped survivors and determine their medical condition.
Individuals on the site are rewarded with achievement badges for their participation, and the site offers real-time leaderboards so you can see how well you’re doing compared to your peers. There are even special achievements handed out by the Air Force project lead for those with truly outstanding contributions to the program.
The site is definitely a great idea, taking a cue from the popularity of crowdsourcing, and applying it to real-world challenges the military faces. But it goes beyond simple crowdsourcing and provides a truly collaborative experience where you work with real Airmen to solve problems. The Air Force just isn’t asking for ideas and implementing the best ones, they are working with the students step by step to bring these ideas to fruition. It’s also a great interactive experience for students and an opportunity for them to both contribute and learn from their peers.
If you’d like to check out the site for yourself and start participating, head on over to The Air Force Collaboratory now.
Thank you The Air Force Collaboratory and Technorati for being sponsors of this article. All opinions expressed here are my own.
Japan is already home to some of the fastest trains in the world with a fleet of bullet trains crisscrossing the country at incredibly high speeds. However, the current crop of bullet trains isn’t fast enough for Japan and Central Japan Railway has resume trials of its incredibly high-speed maglev train. The train is expected […]
General Electric says it’s a little more complicated than making instant
oatmeal, but the company, along with the Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory, is developing a recipe of electrochemical solution and
water that will power a cheaper, safer, and longer-charged battery than
current electric vehicle (EV) batteries. The developers are hoping their
newly designed flow battery will remain charged for three times longer than the current Tesla S Model battery (265 milles) and cost about a quarter of the S Model battery.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
