Lowe’s Holoroom is an augmented reality showroom, not a sci-fi revolution
Admit it, you’ve seen the ‘holodeck‘ on Star Trek and thought to yourself: “I want that.” So did the folks at Lowe’s Innovation Lab, but what they came up isn’t exactly science fiction. Lowe’s Holoroom isn’t a holographic reality, it’s an augmented reality: by covering a small space in AR markers, Lowe’s has created a room that allows customers to view potential home renovations by looking through the window of an iPad.
Markers add accuracy to the AR experience, but that’s not the reason the company chose an augmented experience over a virtual one. According to Singularity Hub, the company explored “simulator solutions,” but had to abandon them due to concerns over motion sickness. Lowe’s plans to install the Holoroom in select Toronto stores this year, and will eventually allow customers to print out their own makers and continue the experience from home. Holoroom doesn’t quite deliver on the holographic fantasy the name suggests, but hey — whatever gets the bathroom remodeled.
Filed under: Misc
Via: Singularity Hub
Source: Lowe’s Innovation Labs
Pebble Steel Launches at Best Buy on June 15 for $229 [iOS Blog]
Pebble today announced that its second-generation smart watch, the Pebble Steel, will be available in Best Buy stores beginning on June 15.
First announced in January, the Pebble Steel features a stainless steel body with a leather or steel band, an upgrade from the plastic design of the first-generation Pebble. The Pebble Steel also features smaller side and top bezels than the original, for a slimmer, lighter profile.
Pebble Steel has been incredibly popular since we launched it at CES in January, with demand far exceeding our expectations. Our premium smartwatch takes everything our users love about the original Pebble–simplicity, ease of use, weeklong battery life, water resistant design, rich notifications, the Pebble appstore, and regular updates–and wraps it up in a sleek new stainless steel and Corning Gorilla Glass body.
When purchased from the Pebble website, the Steel retails for $249, a price that includes both a steel and leather band. The version sold through Best Buy will include just a leather band for a price of $229.
In addition to being available at Best Buy retail stores and the Best Buy website this Sunday, the Pebble Steel will continue to be available through the Pebble website.
Next iPad Air May Include Upgraded A8 Processor, 8 Megapixel Camera
Displays for Apple’s next-generation iPad Air are set to begin production this month, reports Korean site ETNews [Google Translation] (via AmongTech), with other major parts such as the camera module also set to enter production soon.
Apple’s second iPad Air is expected to continue to feature the same featherweight design introduced with the first iPad Air, using the same 9.7-inch Retina LCD with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. LG Display will begin production on the displays in June, with Samsung and Sharp ramping up production next month.
Though the next-generation iPad Air will not see any design changes, it may see some hardware improvements in the form of an upgraded 8-megapixel rear camera, an improvement over the current 5-megapixel camera. It may incorporate the same 8-megapixel camera used in the iPhone 5s, which also includes a larger sensor for improved low-light performance. iOS 8 will also bring photography updates to both Apple’s existing and next-generation iPad Airs, in the form of new panoramic and time-lapse modes.
Along with a better camera, the iPad Air is unsurprisingly expected to include an upgraded A8 processor to improve both performance and battery life and the Touch ID fingerprint sensor first introduced with the iPhone 5s.
It is unclear when Apple plans to release its second-generation iPad Air, but rumors have pointed towards a release in September or October, which would be in line with previous iPad releases. Apple’s Retina iPad mini is expected to be updated at the same time, featuring many of the same improvements.
TouchPal Demos Gesture Keyboard with Sliding Input for iOS 8
One of the major iOS 8 announcements at last week’s Worldwide Developers Conference was support for systemwide third-party keyboards, and a number of prominent keyboard developers have announced their intention to support iOS. Fleksy was the first to share a photo of its keyboard running on iOS 8, and today TouchPal has posted a video of its keyboard in action.
TouchPal’s video shows its keyboard supporting gesture/sliding input similar to Swype, as demoed in the stock Messages app on iOS 8. TouchPal also supports autocorrect and predictive word suggestions, although these are not shown in the demo.
While iOS 8′s public release is still several months away, it’s clear that keyboard developers, many of whom including Swype, Adaptxt and SwiftKey have honed their offerings on Android, are moving quickly to support iOS.
Several major keyboard developers have already been working with iOS, as seen with the SwiftKey Note app with Evernote integration and Fleksy’s developer tools that allow developers to add support for the firm’s predictive keyboard on an app-by-app basis. As a result, we expect quite a few third-party options ready for the iOS 8 launch.
Android icon lovers, come out to play-ay! You’re invited to Tha Warriors Party!
Look, we know you love to play with the look and feel of your Android smartphone or tablet. Gauging by the interest in our icon pack highlight posts we understand that a lot of you love to swap out the icons on a regular basis. This Friday you’ll have a chance to take advantage of some discounts and promos all centered around icons.
It’s called Tha Warriors Party and it’s being organized by a well-known and respected designer, Tha Phlash. Various icon developers and enthusiasts will get together to offer early looks at upcoming bundles, discounts on current packs, and other fun stuff.
This Friday the best icon designers will join forces to give you some goodies so this is a party you do not want to miss because WE got the streets, suckers! Can you dig it?
So how do you get in on the love? Simple! The whole thing is done live via a virtual nightclub called mixify. Yeah, there’s gonna be some awesome music played; we know, we’ve been there before.
The party gets started at 6PM EST this Friday, June 13, and you can RSVP on Google+ immediately.
The post Android icon lovers, come out to play-ay! You’re invited to Tha Warriors Party! appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Netflix brings The Magic School Bus into the internet era with a new series
Netflix made a big push into educational video when it picked up Scholastic’s TV shows, and we now know that this effort has paid off — The Magic School Bus has been “remarkably popular,” Netflix tells the New York Times. It only makes sense, then, that the streaming media pioneer has just ordered a new take on Magic School Bus for its next original series. The 26-episode show, The Magic School Bus 360°, will modernize Ms. Frizzle’s science classes for kids who are now surrounded by technology; robots and wearables (such as a biometric suit) will play a part. Your little ones will have to wait until 2016 to start watching, but that patience may pay off if it fosters an early interest in computer science and other high-tech fields.
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Internet, HD
Via: New York times, Time
Source: Scholastic
Making your own Mario level is incredibly fun, but difficult to master
Today, I wrote my very own level of Super Mario Bros. at E3. Featuring a pyramid of goombas, several randomly placed pipes, a dozen mystery blocks in a row and countless coins scattered throughout, my creation was a jumbled mess; coming up with a cool world for Mario to navigate is a lot easier said than done. But it was mine.
In the first half of next year, Wii U owners will have the same opportunity thanks to a game called Mario Maker. It’s Nintendo’s first attempt at producing a level creator similar to LittleBigPlanet or Project Spark, and it tugged at my heartstrings. For a brief moment, I shared the same experience as a small group of video game designers: Armed with a Wii U GamePad and its included stylus, I placed enemies, pipes, platforms and other Mario obstacles anywhere I wanted. In my demo, I was allowed to choose between the original game’s 8-bit style and the high-def style from the franchise’s recent titles. And just to make sure my Mario genesis was actually playable, I was able to play through it in real time.
In edit mode, Mario Maker looks closer to a crude video editor or an early version of Photoshop than an actual game. Items, tiles and enemies line the top of the screen, while your current position in the world sits on the bottom. The mechanics are simple: Select an item from the top and then tap on the screen where you want to place it. If you plant a platform somewhere, you can then dictate which direction it moves in. (Reps told me that there’s no way to adjust how far each platform travels, however.) You can add wings to goombas or turtles, and if you place an enemy in a pipe, that enemy will start popping out at regular intervals. Once you hit the Play button in the bottom-left corner, it transforms into a real game that you can actually play through. This is where the difficult part of the process began: Randomly placing items on a level is one thing, but making everything work well together and helping Mario get through it successfully is another.
It took just a few minutes to create a simple level. Satisfied, I saved my masterpiece, but Nintendo hasn’t given any specific details on exactly what I can do with it after this point. Reps suggest that there will be ways to share it with others. Hopefully this means you’ll be able to upload levels and challenge family and friends. I’d also love to download curated playlists of custom-made levels to tide me over until the next Mario game comes out. The demo shown off at E3 is an early version of the game, which means there should be a lot more options and customizations to choose from when it’s ready next year. Sadly, there was no option to create warp pipes, nor were there any underground or water levels. While there aren’t many official answers yet, Nintendo has plenty of time to provide them before its general release.
Twitter turns off Tweetdeck to ‘assess’ JavaScript security breach
If you’re a Tweetdeck user and can’t login right now — there’s a reason. The service’s webapp contained a vulnerability that let it run scripts embedded in tweets; just reading a tweet could cause a popup to appear on your screen, redirect you to another website, hijack your account or even cause you to retweet something without knowing. Since Tweetdeck is used by many of the social media managers for widely-followed accounts, a flaw that spreads itself could quickly replicate across the service.The official Tweetdeck account claimed the vulnerability was fixed earlier, but that doesn’t appear to have worked, and as a result, Twitter has taken the service down “to assess today’s earlier security issue.” Even though you can’t login right now, it would probably be a good idea to revoke the service’s access to your account entirely until things are resolved.
[Image credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg via Getty Images]
We’ve temporarily taken TweetDeck services down to assess today’s earlier security issue. We’ll update when services are back up.
– TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) June 11, 2014
Oh dear. That Tweetdeck XSS vulnerability is RT-ing stuff… its just hit @BBCBreaking! pic.twitter.com/8siffmsFxi
– Matt Navarra (@MattNavarraUK) June 11, 2014
@astroehlein tweetdeck is not stripping out dangerous scripting code from tweets. So you can run JavaScript in the context of another user
– Chris Williams (@diodesign) June 11, 2014
Filed under: Internet
Source: Tweetdeck (Twitter)
PlayStation at E3 2014: an interview with Worldwide Studios head Shuhei Yoshida
Sony Computer Entertainment’s Shuhei Yoshida wants his company’s new game-streaming service, PlayStation Now, to be the Netflix of gaming. When it launches later this summer, it won’t be. In fact, it’s launching in open beta. “We have to walk before we run,” Yoshida told us in an interview this week at E3, the game industry’s big annual show in Los Angeles. He sees the service as a long-term plan, part of Sony’s ongoing initiative to bring PlayStation games to many devices. And that plan is just kicking off.
Beyond taking our questions, we also asked you fine folks for your questions. Yoshida, gregarious as ever, took the time to answer each; you’ll find that video below.
These are the biggest PlayStation games at E3 2014
The launch window is over. The PlayStation 4 is, for now, leading the sales charts and the best way for Sony to keep driving that momentum this generation is with — what else? — compelling games. This year’s showing at Sony’s E3 booth is no different than the last: You’ve got your smattering of indies, AAA titles and downloadable content. So what should you expect to add to your growing collection in 2014? We took a tour of Sony’s booth to find out.
The Order: 1886
Developer Ready at Dawn’s third-person shooter is set in an atmospheric London during the Second Industrial Revolution and pits the knights of the order against half-breeds — supernatural-like figures. You play as the quasi-immortal knight Galahad in an attempt to strike down the rebels trying to overtake the monarchy, as well as creatures like the lycans (that’s fancy for “werewolves”).
The playable demo on the show floor focused mostly on the game’s rote shooting mechanics, and stayed far away from The Order‘s promised supernatural element. But Sony also let us into a closed-door session that teased a protracted fight between Galahad and an impressively detailed lycan that shifted seamlessly between in-game cinematics, (dreaded) quick-time events and good ‘ol shooting. If there’s anything to praise The Order for, it’s that dynamic shift between real-time events and cut scenes. Sure the studio spent a fair amount of time researching London to get the surrounding landscape and in-game objects just right, but it’s still just another shooter, no matter how pretty it’s been dressed up.
LittleBigPlanet 3
Sackboy is back and, thankfully, much easier to control in this PS4 debut for the LittleBigPlanet franchise. For LittleBigPlanet 3, Media Molecule paid attention to fan feedback and made sure to tighten up Sackboy’s platforming controls, making his movements more precise and less slippery. The title also adds in three new helpers: Toggle for heavy lifting/speed, Swoop for flight and Oddsock for agility. Each of these new characters offers players unique abilities to tackle the multi-layered world’s many puzzle elements in the single player story mode or during level creation. And speaking of layers, the studio’s bumped the game’s level of depth to 16 layers, a massive increase from the previous title’s three. LittleBigPlanet 3 is absolutely gorgeous on the PS4 and with a vast library of user-generated levels available for download, it should make for an enticing, if not familiar addition to your PS4 library.
Entwined
If you’ve ever played Rez on the PS2, you’ll feel right at home with Pixelopus’ Entwined. There are no bad guys to take out, but the core flying mechanic through a trippy visual space is much the same. Players take on the role of two separated lovers — a frog and a bird — trying to reunite (into dragon form) as they fly through color-coordinated goals and gain power-ups. Entwined moves along on a rail and forces the player to control each character (and each side of their brain) simultaneously using the left and right analog sticks. The graphics are simple, yet brilliant and the game’s intoxicating score lends to its Zen vibe. And it’s already available on PSN. So gamers looking for an alternative to the kill kill kill mechanic we see so often shouldn’t hesitate to pick this relaxing title up.
CounterSpy
The two superpowers of the world are in a race to blow up the moon (yes — “blow up”) in CounterSpy and it’s up to you to foil their plans. This Cold War-inspired effort — the first from Dynamighty — adheres closely to the stealth genre with some first-person shooter twists that keep the 2.5D side-scrolling action from wearing thin. It’s not only a fun romp through a Bond-esque world, but it’s also beautifully designed. Which isn’t all that surprising considering the studio’s creative director is a former Pixar employee. CounterSpy will be available across PlayStation platforms, so you’ll have your pick when it hits this summer.
Driveclub
You might remember this one from last year’s E3. Driveclub was supposed to be a PS4 launch title, but developer Evolution Studios wasn’t quite happy with the game’s social framework. And with the blessing of Sony’s Worldwide Studios, the game got pushed back to a release this fall.
So what’s new? Well, for one thing, that longer development time means the game’s graphics are that much prettier, though it still runs at 1080p30. Small details like the deep draw distance, lighting effects, car damage and the ability to see into the driver’s dash in bright sunlight ensure the game’s status as a true next-gen title. But don’t go thinking this is a driving sim; controls for the various cars may be realistic, but Evolution Studios has layered on mini-challenges to keep you immersed in the fun even if you’re racing in dead last place. That said, the game really shines when you’re engaged in a friendly club vs. club networked multiplayer.
Helldivers
Swedish developer Arrowhead Games’ top-down shooter is the type of game that’s made for local multiplayer. Helldivers lets up to four players control delinquent space cops as they explore procedurally generated worlds and mercilessly slaughter hordes of alien enemies. The game leans heavily on co-op play, but there’s an interesting mechanic baked in that gives Helldivers added tension and difficulty: Players can wield a rich arsenal of weapons and exosuits to help clear out a level, but accessing each of them involves frantic sequenced button pushes (e.g., ‘down, down, down, down’ gets you a rifle). It’s maddening in practice, but we mean that in the best way possible.
AIVAnet 