BRAVEN launches the new BRV-X; The TrueWireless Rugged Outdoor Speaker
We have always had a special place for BRAVEN. We have been fortunate enough to spend countless hours pumping tunes through various BRAVEN speaker models over the years and with every new model they only get better. We first saw the new BRAVEN BRV-X at CES 2014 and have been eagerly waiting for them to launch the device. The BRV-X is the big brother of the BRV-1 that they launched last year that we were able to review for you guys as well. Along with the BRAVEN 850 and the BRAVEN 855s.
The new BRV-X is capable of pumping out HD sound for a continuous 12 hours thanks to the 5200 mAh battery inside. That is some serious all day rocking during your adventures this summer. It is also IPX5 water-resistant rated giving you piece of mind when out rafting or boating. Add in the indoor/outdoor switch to instantly adjust the sound for the environment you are in, the omnidirectional passive bass radiator and the heavy-duty strap and you have a beast by your side. It also offers fast and easy pairing via NFC, only weighs 1.5pds and will charge your phones/tablets and anything else that might be dying on your trips.
hopefully the good weather is on the way and you all have some outdoor trips planned, I know I sure do. We will be doing a review on this bad boy shortly, so stay tuned. If you know the brand and the name well, then you know you can buy with confidence. Currently we only see them available for purchase at Braven.com in black. The press release shows us a white one as well with a price tag of $229.99. They will find their way to Amazon and other retailers shortly. Until then, head over to BRAVEN to check it out.
Temple Run in first-person, courtesy of Epson’s Android glasses (hands-on)
We saw Epson’s Moverio BT-200 glasses back at CES, and while not much has changed on the hardware front since then, the company dropped by SXSW to demo a few new games. There’s also a new homemade camera rig, so it’s now possible to share the excitement here. Moverio supports the full version of Android 4.0, but unlike smartphones and tablets running the same OS, these glasses include a pair of embedded transparent displays, which provide a surprisingly usable view, while also preserving some of your field of vision — we absolutely would not recommend walking, driving or interacting with humans while wearing them, though.
We tested out the motion-tracking-equipped BT-200 using a custom game called Sky Temple — its creator describes the simple demo as a “real first-person version of Temple Run.” You can move by looking forward, while turning your head will change your direction in the game. Navigating the OS is handled using a wired trackpad (about the size of a small smartphone), and while we definitely prefer the efficiency of a touchscreen, this solution serves its purpose quite well. We’ve seen the hardware before, though, so today’s all about the video demo. You can check that out below, but keep in mind that gameplay was much smoother with the glasses mounted on my head, so we’d hesitate to draw conclusions based on the awkward rig used to capture this footage.
HBO pushes the boundaries of virtual reality to sell you Game of Thrones
The frost-crusted wooden cage was carrying me to my death. I didn’t know that for sure, but something just didn’t feel right as the winch kicked into gear and the empty square of Castle Black retreated from my feet. My knees buckled as I began to ascend the 700-foot Wall. The floor rattled beneath my boots and I had to reach out to steady myself against the side of the ramshackle elevator. There was nothing beyond the stone battlements that the Night’s Watch calls home. Well, not nothing exactly. There were a few towering pines and squat rocky mountains whose lower reaches were blanketed in thick featureless snow. Their peaks, if you could call them that, were black stains smeared across the blinding white expanse of the Kingdom of the North. As I climbed higher, the cool breeze turned into an icy gale and my collar flapped against my neck like a sail in a storm.
The truth is that my feet were firmly on Texas soil, but HBO and its partners Relevent and Framestore (which recently won an Academy Award for visual effects in Gravity) certainly managed to fool my brain. It wasn’t just the Oculus Rift over my eyes or the headphones pumping realistic sound effects into my ears — the experience was augmented by an assault on all of my other senses. For one, I was stuffed inside an actual cage. Its floor creaked as I shifted my weight and, even though I couldn’t see my hands, I could reach out and feel the rough-hewn lumber surrounding me in the virtual Westeros. The cage rumbled and rattled as I rode up the wall and fans mounted in the ceiling blew cold air over me. It was easily the most immersive experience I’ve ever had with the Oculus.
While you would never mistake the graphics rendered in the Unity game engine for real life, the experience still felt real. When I stood on a flimsy platform of narrow planks hanging 700 feet above the frosted ground, my heart leaped. I was actually afraid I was going to fall to my death — this virtual world inspired very real fear. It was so gripping that when the inevitable happened and I found the wall screaming past my face in the wrong direction, the wind howling around me, I couldn’t breathe.
HBO is hardly the only company pushing the boundaries of the Oculus for marketing purposes. In fact, it’s arguable that advertising agencies and content studios are doing more to advance the capabilities of virtual reality than the game developers that Oculus is designed for. Beck partnered with Lincoln on an advertising campaign that included him recording an epic orchestral rendition of David Bowie’s “Sound and Vision.” At Sundance, that was turned into an immersive experience that sucked you in primarily by playing with sound. As you turned your head, the sound of instruments shifted to the appropriate virtual location. If you were staring at the string section then turned around, the sound of the strings would appear to come from behind you.
Ogeeku created that advergame CorollaCade for Toyota, which made the simple tweak of putting a steering wheel in your hands. It might seem obvious, but even simple changes that take the gamepad out of your hand can really improve the Oculus experience. Studios like Chaotic Moon are even hacking together solutions just for fun. At this year’s SXSW, it showed off SharkPunch, a silly and fun game that pairs the Oculus with a Leap Motion. So, rather than mashing buttons, you control the game by throwing actual punches. It will probably be one of these companies creating branded experiences that finally ties the Oculus together with motion control and other sensory input such as smell to create a virtual world so real it’s terrifying.
Jacksonville Jaguars get the world’s biggest LED-lit HD displays, little else
The Jacksonville Jaguars don’t exactly generate much excitement on EverBank Field. However, they’ll soon have something attention-worthy above that field: a pair of the world’s largest LED-lit, HD-capable displays. Daktronics is installing end zone screens at the stadium that each measure 362 ft. wide by 60 ft. high, handily eclipsing the 200 ft. by 80 ft. panel at Charlotte Motor Speedway. All that visual real estate will serve up to three HD replay videos at once, even as it shows the (likely dismal) score. The setup is overkill for a football team whose chances of a Super Bowl are currently very slim. Look at it this way, though — at least the move gives the Jaguars something to lord over their more successful rivals.
Filed under: Displays, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Daktronics
Apple TV update hides unwatched channels with ease
Alongside the release of iOS 7.1, Apple TV also received a software update today. Most notable among the changes? An easier method for hiding those channels that you don’t watch. Before now, you had to take a trip to the Settings menu and hide each option from a list. After installing Apple TV version 6.1, pick a channel from the main menu and hold the Select button to make the icons dance. Once they start to jiggle, use the directional buttons to move around before hitting the Play/Pause button to hide that content source. This certainly isn’t a major leap, but it’s sure you save some time and extra navigating for tidying up that primary menu.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, HD, Apple
Via: iMore
Capcom and Twitch team up to stream a year-long Street Fighter tournament
Competitive gaming depends heavily on live streaming to build its audience these days, and it’s about to get a big boost through a new partnership between Capcom and Twitch. The two are launching the Capcom Pro Tour, a year-long Street Fighter IV tournament. The worldwide competition will have players duke it out across both major events, like DreamHack and EVO, as well as smaller online and local events; Capcom will stream all the big gatherings through its own Twitch channel. The tour experience will be familiar to fans, but it could give eSports a higher profile by introducing many to both online spectating and pro-level play.
Source: Capcom Pro Tour, Twitch
4.7-Inch ‘iPhone Air’ Shown Off In New Concept Video [iOS Blog]
The upcoming iPhone 6 has been incorporated into a new concept video by designer Sam Beckett, which was initially posted to The Verge forums. According to the dimensions Beckett provides, his “iPhone Air” concept includes a 4.7-inch display, a 1920 by 1080 resolution and 468 pixels per inch.
Beckett’s concept is 8 percent larger than the iPhone 5s and 9 percent thinner. The slimmer profile is in line with previous iPhone 6 rumors, which have suggested Apple has improved its backlighting technology to allow for thinner devices.
The phone is only 8% larger than the existing iPhone 5S, this increase is to accommodate the larger screen. Some extra space could be potentially utilised by reducing the width of the side bezels and by also slimming down the top and bottom of the phone frame too. The depth of the iPhone Air is 7mm, coming in 0.6mm smaller than it’s predecessor. This modest reduction in the device depth and larger increase in the width and height could help create a bigger space for the battery and other components.
Like several other iPhone 6 concepts, Beckett’s design keeps the same general size and shape of the existing iPhone 5s while doing away with thick side bezels. The design incorporates thinner side bezels with a sapphire crystal display, both features the phone is rumored to include.
Beckett also draws on a number of other rumors for the video, suggesting the iPhone 6 will include a 10-megapixel sensor with an aperture of f/1.8 and a faster A8 chip, which is reportedly already in production with TSMC.
As with any concept, it is unclear if these ideas and rumors will make it into the next-generation iPhone, but the video does imagine how a larger iPhone could possibly look. Apple is said to be developing two larger iPhones for release in 2014, one near 4.7 inches and one quite a bit larger at approximately 5.5 inches.
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iOS 7.1 Includes Support for Two Unannounced iPads, Likely Minor Tweaks [iOS Blog]
iOS 7.1, released earlier today, includes support for existing iPad models along with support for two unannounced models, labeled iPad4,3 and iPad4,6. It is possible that these new model numbers represent minor hardware revisions for existing iPads that will be introduced to the market silently, as a more substantial upgrade would push the model numbers higher.
On occasion, Apple has implemented new hardware components for its iOS devices without a public announcement and these minor changes often go unseen by consumers as they tend to introduce very minor improvements in efficiency. For example, an Apple TV update in January of 2013 revealed a new Apple TV, which turned out to be a minor update with a smaller A5 chip. That change was not obvious to Apple TV purchasers, but it did warrant a model number jump to 3,2 from 3,1.
Image courtesy of 9to5Mac
Existing iPad Air models are numbered 4,1 and 4,2, while Retina iPad mini models are numbered 4,4 and 4,5, suggesting one new iPad Air for the 4,3 designation and one new Retina mini for the 4,6 designation.
As noted by 9to5Mac, it is also possible that iPad4,3 and iPad4,6 represent iOS devices that are optimized for networks in other countries.
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Watch us play Titanfall for Xbox One (poorly) right here! (update: and it’s over!)
Xbox One’s first major release officially drops this week: Titanfall, from the folks who made Call of Duty into the 800-lb. gorilla it is today. Well, specifically, it launches tomorrow, but we’ve got it right now and thought you’d like a taste before deciding if it’s your next thousand-hour addiction, so we’re streaming it via Twitch just below the break. Though both Ben Gilbert (that’s me!) and Tim Seppala are on the stream today, you’ll have to settle for just Ben’s audio as we try and figure out how to incorporate more editors into the mix. Technology is hard, folks.
And hey, this is our first stream, so let us know what you think in the comments: love it? hate it? what would you like to see? what don’t you? Your input is appreciated! Now let’s go shoot some robots.
Update: Sorry for the troubles, folks. With the Xbox One Twitch app still in beta, we’re having some issues keeping a stream up and running. Bear with us!
Update 2: Okay folks, we’re out! Again, please let us know how you feel about this concept in the comments/via email/on Twitter/etc.! Head below for the archived video, and thanks very much for joining us!
Filed under: Gaming, Software, HD, Microsoft
Source: Twitch
Apple releases iOS 7.1 with CarPlay support
After pushing out several betas, Apple‘s finally ready to roll out its latest firmware update to the masses. iOS 7.1 is now available as a free download, and as expected, it adds a few new features to the mix. The new update should be heading your direction if you own an iPhone 4 or newer, iPad 2 or newer, either iPad mini or a fifth-generation iPod touch. Among the usual smattering of tweaks to the iOS UI and bug fixes, the most notable feature improvement is the inclusion of CarPlay support and fixes for the random reboot problem many iOS 7 users have been experiencing.
The biggest change to iOS with the new update is support for Apple’s CarPlay feature, which brings iOS integration to your in-dash stereo and provides you with the ability to interact with Siri, access your music library and third-party audio apps, navigate routes using Maps, answer calls and send texts hands-free. Previously known as “iOS in the Car,” the feature will be offered on select new Mercedes-Benz, Volvo and Ferrari models, while plenty of other manufacturers are working on CarPlay options of their own.
Speaking of Siri, 7.1 adds a clever bit of functionality to the virtual assistant. Now, when you press and hold down the home button, Siri will wait until you’ve released the button before it processes your input. This is a handy trick if you need extra time to speak to Siri, since the program previously thought pauses meant you were finished dictating or making your request.
Additionally, iOS 7.1 comes with a rather lengthy list of other bug fixes and UI tweaks. For instance, there’s a new setting in the camera to automatically enable HDR on the iPhone 5s; you’ll also get new functionality in iTunes Radio and Calendar, as well as improved Touch ID fingerprint recognition, optimized performance for older devices and — most importantly — a fix for that pesky bug that has caused random reboots on more than a handful of iOS devices.
You should be able to download and install iOS 7.1 directly on your device, but at 1.4GB for iPhone and 1.5GB for iPad, the latest update to iOS is a rather bulky one. If you’re not near a WiFi hotspot, there’s always the option to download and install the file through iTunes on your computer at your convenience. Check out the full change log below to see what you’re getting.
- CarPlay
- iOS experience designed for the car
- Simply connect your iPhone to a CarPlay enabled vehicle
- Supports Phone, Music, Maps, Messages, and 3rd-party audio apps
- Control with Siri and the car’s touchscreen, knobs, and buttons
- Siri
- Manually control when Siri listens by holding down the home button while you speak and releasing it when you’re done as an alternative to letting Siri automatically notice when you stop talking
- New, more natural sounding male and female voices for Mandarin Chinese, UK English, Australian English, and Japanese
- iTunes Radio
- Search field above Featured Stations to easily create stations based on your favorite artist or song
- Buy albums with the tap of a button from Now Playing
- Subscribe to iTunes Match on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to enjoy iTunes Radio ad-free
- Calendar
- Option to display events in month view
- Country specific holidays automatically added for many countries
- Accessibility
- Bold font option now includes the keyboard, calculator, and many icon glyphs
- Reduce Motion option now includes Weather, Messages, and multitasking UI animations
- New options to display button shapes, darken app colors, and reduce white point
- New Camera setting to automatically enable HDR for iPhone 5s
- iCloud Keychain support in additional countries
- FaceTime call notifications are automatically cleared when you answer a call on another device
- Fixes a bug that could occasionally cause a home screen crash
- Improves Touch ID fingerprint recognition
- Improved performance for iPhone 4
- Fixes display of Mail unread badge for numbers greater than 10,000
- Continued user interface refinements
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Apple
Source: Apple
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