Steam’s game recommendation tags are now ready for everyone
At a loss as to what to play next after finishing all the games you bought in that last Steam sale? Don’t fret — after months of beta testing, the service’s tagging feature is officially ready for prime time. Visit a product page and you can browse tags to see other games you might like in a similar vein, no matter how vague the criteria. Click “sci-fi” when checking out Space Marine and you’ll see loads of futuristic titles; choose “Warhammer 40K” and you’ll see more specific recommendations, like Space Hulk. You can create your own tags as well, although you’ll want to use discretion. Valve is both consolidating tags that have a similar theme and getting rid of tags that aren’t really helpful — as much as you might want to label bad purchases as “junk,” you’ll have to resist the urge.
Filed under: Gaming, Internet, Software
Source: Steam
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‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ proves that games are better with jetpacks and lasers
It’s easy to get cynical about game franchises that release every year, but from the looks of it, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is shaking things up quite a bit. For starters, developer Sledgehammer Games’ first effort brings jetpacks and frickin’ lasers to the online battlefield. Joystiq recently got some hands-on time with the title’s multiplayer suite, and, based on the video below, came away pretty impressed. One of editor-in-chief Ludwig Kietzmann’s biggest takeaways is that the aforementioned jetpack, specifically, makes it a little easier to live longer and thus dole out more pain. And no, don’t worry, you’re forgiven if you come away thinking that Advanced Warfare looks more than a little like Titanfall. Well, without the titans, that is — there’s a sort of Volcano / Dante’s Peak thing going on here.
Filed under: Gaming, Home Entertainment, HD
Source: Joystiq
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Prototype of HP’s first calculator watch can be yours for $14,500
We already know HP is working on a (supposedly) handsome smartwatch of its own, but this isn’t the first time the company’s tried to glam up your wrist. Let’s flash back to 1977: Star Wars was lighting up the box office charts, Andy Gibb just wanted to be your everything and HP made the world’s first calculator watch. The HP-01 was a particularly garish monstrosity, its golden chassis festooned with teensy number and operator buttons, but it look at it! It’s the pinnacle of retro alpha nerd chic. Really, the only way to top one of those is if you owned some super-rare, unreleased version that languished behind closed doors for years. Well, now you can. It’s a prototype, it’s made of stainless steel, and it’ll only set you back $14,500… assuming you take this eBay seller’s word for it. Waste of money? A small price to pay for a bit of forgotten tech history? That’s up to you, but you’ve still got time to decide — the auction’s slated to run for another eight days at time of writing.
Via: The Verge
Source: eBay
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Watch these guys try driving a car from a drone’s point of view
It’s a pretty well-known fact that if you’re looking for a proper sense of speed in a racing game, you play from either the cockpit or bumper viewpoint. Using the chase cam isn’t exactly natural, and really, how is it even realistic? Well, thanks to the future we now live in, that question’s been answered: drones. To see just what it’d be like to drive a car from that omniscient point of view, YouTuber Tom Scott played emergency spotter as pals tooled around a closed course wearing a pair of video goggles receiving real-time footage from the trailing hexacopter.
However, unlike the 1080p video we get to see in the clip, the driver’s view looks more akin to a garish mashup of a GameBoy and PlayStation game. If you’re looking for high-speed thrills, it’s best to point your browser elsewhere — driving “blind” means careful, deliberate maneuvers are the order of the day here. For something a little more, well, gamey, check out Rooster Teeth’s (of Red vs. Blue fame) take on third-person driving from a few years back.
[Thanks, Tom!]
Filed under: Cameras, Gaming, Transportation
Source: YouTube
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The KERO Smart Annex is an extremely thin, adhesive, portable battery Pack [Kickstarter]
Some companies are just addicted to Kickstarter – Chicago-based company, KERO, is launching its 4th Kickstarter campaign for the KERO Smart Annex, an adhesive battery pack who’s aim is to be as thin as possible for maximum portability. You may have heard of KERO before from their first successful Kickstarter for the Nomad Cable, and this campaign is no less centred around unique design. Check out their pledge video below:
It looks like a very interesting product, particularly being no bigger than a small remote and being able to adhere to your phone while charging with minimal footprint. Pledges for the campaign range from $19, which will net you one Power Annex, right up to $190, which will shower you with 6 Annex’s and a few other KERO products. The Power Annex is planned to have a capacity of 1,800 mAh, which can be a lifesaver when you’re out and run out of battery.
If you’re interested in contributing to the KERO Power Annex, be sure to visit the campaign page linked below.
Source: Kickstarter
Press Release
KERO Products Launches MicroSuction Portable Battery
Portable Battery with MicroSuction Technology to debut on Kickstarter
Chicago (August 11, 2014) – KERO, the Chicago-based company that specializes in the design and manufacturing of Apple-certified accessories is launching their fourth Kickstarter campaign to fund production of the Power Annex, a compact portable battery with MicroSuction Technology. Inspired by gecko’s feet, MicroSuction Technology is a soft sheet of material that provides the ultimate removable sticking power with lifetime adhesive capabilities. The Power Annex has one full side of MicroSuction Technology applied to the device allowing the external battery to stick directly to the device needing charging freeing the user from bulky external batteries, wires and wall mount chargers.
The Power Annex has a slim profile. At a mere 0.35 inches tall and half the width of an iPhone, the design is compact enough to fit in a pocket or affix to the surface of your device without adding weight or bulk. Capable of adding extra life to any device with a USB charging cord, the Power Annex can quickly charge one iPhone 5 up to 75% power. LED flashing lights offer the user an easy-to-read indication of the amount of power available in the Power Annex and the Power Annex automatically turns off once the device is fully powered.
“The Power Annex is unlike anything in the current portable battery space,” says Roberto Meza, Co-Founder of KERO Products. “It is the only charger on the market utilizing the adhesive power of MicroSuction Technology,” he continues. Kegan McDaniel, Co-Founder of KERO Products adds “We were tired of being constrained by cords, heavy battery cases and bulky portable chargers, so we created a product that fit an unfulfilled need.”
KERO Power Annex is available in black, will retail for $29.99 and be available for purchase December, 2014 just in time for the holiday shopping season. The Kickstarter campaign will begin on Monday, August 11 at 8AM CET and will be active through September 9 with the goal of raising at least $40,000. Backers will receive special promotions including the Power Annex and Micro USB and Lightning versions of the brand’s original product, the Nomad Cable at discounts of up to 40%.
KERO Products Power Annex Kickstarter campaign can be found here:https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/keroproducts/power-annex-adhesive-slim-profile-external-battery
About KERO
KERO is a Chicago-based company that specializes in the design and manufacturing of Apple MFI certified accessories. KERO began with the successful funding of the Nomad Cable in December, 2012 – the first Apple-certified key ring charging cable. Three successful Kickstarters later, the company continues to develop quality products that lead the marketplace in innovation and design.
For more information: www.keroproducts.com. You can also connect with the brand on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at facebook.com/keroproducts,twitter.com/keroproducts and instagram.com/keroproducts
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T-Mobile’s new Pay as You Go plan is simpler and (sometimes) cheaper
Pay-per-use cellphone plans are sometimes befuddling — the rates can change depending on whether you’re calling or texting, or how much cash you put on your account. T-Mobile thinks it can end this confusion with its new, much simpler Pay as You Go plan. As long as you plunk down at least $3 per month, it costs 10 cents for every text message or minute’s worth of talk time; you won’t have to guess how much credit you have left after a long call. It should be cheaper in some cases, too. Previously, you had to pay as much as 33 cents per minute for voice if you only bought small Pay as You Go refills.
There are new data passes to go along with these basic options, although they’re really meant for travelers and others who only need short-term access. Paying $5 per day will get you 500MB of full-speed data, while $10 will give you 1GB to use over the course of a week. You’re still better off with regular service plans if you use your phone often, but the new offering could make life a lot simpler if you only occasionally need to get in touch with others.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, T-Mobile
Source: T-Mobile
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Microsoft Research project turns a smartphone camera into a cheap Kinect
Microsoft’s been awfully busy at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference: <embers of the company’s research division have already illustrated how they can interpret speech based on the vibrations of a potato chip bag and turn shaky camera footage into an experience that feels like flying. Look at the list of projects Microsofties have been working on long enough, though, and something of a theme appears: These folks are really into capturing motion, depth and object deformation with the help of some slightly specialized hardware.
Consider the work of researchers from Microsoft Research’s Redmond and Cambridge outposts — they figured out a way to turn a run-of-the-mill 2D camera like the one embedded in your phone or perched atop your monitor into an infrared camera usable for capturing depth data, sort of like a Kinect. The team made working depth sensors out of a tweaked Android smartphone and a Microsoft webcam, and both were able to track a user’s hands and face with aplomb, making them awfully interesting (and relatively cheap) hacks for tinkerers who want to create and test gesture-centric projects without much hassle.
Yet another project saw a team of researchers develop their own RGB-depth camera out of off-the-shelf parts. Why? So they could figure out a way to meld it with software to capture 3D models of people and objects that deform, shift and shimmy in real-time. Imagine holding an inflatable ball in the palm of your hand — it’d be a piece of cake for an RGBd camera to capture it and for modeling software to render it as a sphere. Now imagine squeezing that ball; imagine the bulges and depressions that take shape as your grip tightens. Between their camera and their software, these researchers have managed to create deformable models much faster than before; it might not be long before such objects wind up in your next frag session.
Filed under: Software, Microsoft
Source: Microsoft Research
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California’s smartphone kill switch bill is about to become law
After a brief battle, California’s smartphone kill switch bill is on the cusp of becoming a bona fide law. The measure has passed its final Senate vote 27 to 8, leaving just the Governor’s signature before it takes effect. For the most part, it’s the same bill that we saw in May — the biggest change is an exemption for selling older devices that can’t “reasonably be reengineered” to incorporate the remote lockdown feature.
The soon-to-be law is important, although it may not make as big an impact as you might think. Big phone makers like Apple, HTC and Samsung have already agreed to implement kill switches, and Minnesota has already enacted similar legislation. This just makes it harder for companies to pass on the technology — they risk losing a lot of sales in the Golden State if they don’t give you an easy way to block access to a stolen device.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile
Source: CNET
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Apple Suppliers Gearing Up to Produce New iPads, Larger Model to Feature Anti-Reflective Coating
Apple’s suppliers have already begun producing the next-generation iPad Air and Retina iPad mini, reports Bloomberg. Production for the 9.7-inch iPad Air 2 is underway and according to the site’s sources, the tablet will debut towards the end of the third quarter or early in the fourth quarter. Production of the Retina iPad mini 2 is also said to be beginning soon.
August production dates for both tablets are in line with rumors that have suggested the new iPads will be unveiled at an October event that follows Apple’s September 9 iPhone event.
iPad Air 2 Mockup
Apple’s iPad Air 2 may see some manufacturing issues that restrict available supply, however, due to a new anti-reflection coating that’s being added to the tablet. The coating is said to make the iPad’s screen easier to read.
Output of the larger iPad may be restricted by manufacturing complications related to the use of a new anti-reflection coating, which Apple plans to add to the device to make the display easier to read, said one of the people.
According to recent rumors, the iPad Air 2 and the second-generation Retina iPad mini will both feature form factors that are largely the same as Apple’s existing iPad Air and Retina mini. The iPad Air may see some minor design tweaks including a new speaker grille with a single row of larger holes and a slightly recessed set of volume buttons.
Both tablets are expected to get upgraded A8 processors that are both faster and more efficient and Touch ID fingerprint sensors. The iPad Air may also gain an improved 8-megapixel camera.
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Engadget Daily: ‘Minecraft’s’ raging success, Apple’s secret university and more!
Today, we dive into the world of Minecraft, rave in the shower, learn about Apple’s secret education program, don a futuristic motorcycle helmet and more! Read on for Engadget’s news highlights from the last 24 hours.
Filed under: Misc, Apple, Microsoft
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AIVAnet 