PlayStation VR not suitable for under-12s, beat it pipsqueaks

Kids under the age of 12 will be weeping into their Coco Pops this morning as Sony has revealed its forthcoming PlayStation VR headset will not be suitable for their pre-teenage eyes.

Spotted in the health and safety notices in the beta version of PS4 firmware v3.50, the section on virtual reality and the “VR headset” clearly states that the device is “not for use by children under age 12”.

Children also get a rough ride, even if they are in the same vicinity.

“Take steps to prevent pets, children or other obstacles entering the area during use,” it continues.

Sony also warns that PlayStation VR users could experience negative side effects: “Some people may experience motion sickness, nausea, disorientation, blurred vision or other discomfort,” it says.

READ: PlayStation VR preview: Virtual reality for the gamers

If any of those occur, you are advised to remove the headset immediately, as we did when we were having a bad experience while playing Minecraft using an Oculus Rift headset recently.

KGrizzly (Reddit)

Sony is not the only manufacturer to deter children from using its VR headset, Oculus even ups the age limit to 13 and HTC advises that its Vive headset is not designed to be used by children at all.

Prolonged use of all of the headsets by older children is also discouraged.

A release date and pricing details for the PlayStation VR headset are yet to be revealed.

Samsung launches a phone upgrade program of its own

With global smartphone sales decidedly flat, how can companies push new device sales? As expected, Samsung is following in Apple’s footsteps by launching an upgrade program that will motivate users to get fresh models. According to Reuters, customers in South Korea who purchase the Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge phones have the option to sign up for the 24 month plan and pay 7,700 won ($6.35) on top of the cost of the phone. Like the program that went live in the UK last week, customers can turn in the device and get the Galaxy S8 or whatever the latest model is.

The plan is similar to what Apple started offering on the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus last September. To be fair though, Apple arguably borrowed the idea from carriers like T-Mobile, which offers upgrades on locked devices through its Jump On Demand program. Both Apple and Samsung offer the upgrades on unlocked phones, which would be handy if you’re planning on switching carriers. The plan is only coming to South Korea so far, and Samsung hasn’t said whether it will hit the US and Europe.

Source: Reuters

Amazon now sells Japanese video games internationally

If you’ve ever paid an astronomical price to import a Japanese game, here’s some good news: Amazon Japan will now ship video game hardware and software internationally. The change happened recently with no fanfare — Twitter and NeoGAF users started reporting it yesterday. Not every game can be shipped; it’s restricted to products sold by Amazon, rather than third-party sellers. There are also some products that don’t seem to want to ship, for reasons unknown.

It’s actually fairly easy to set up an account on the site (assuming you don’t speak Japanese, you’ll want to start with the big button that says “In English”). Once you’re logged in, the site makes it very clear which items will and won’t ship to your address. Shipping is reasonable, too, at less than $10 for a game.

Why would you want to import? Well, Japan gets special edition consoles that might not make it to North America or Europe, and there are also some games that don’t get an international release, for one reason or another. The one thing to be mindful of when ordering from Amazon Japan is region locks: although Sony and Microsoft haven’t locked their most recent consoles down, Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS can only play software from the region they were bought in.

So that’s that. Sites like Play Asia make a living mostly from selling Japanese consoles and games internationally. Although Amazon doesn’t appear to be undercutting others with its pricing, it’s likely that Amazon will chip away at their marketshare with this move, through brand recognition alone.

Via: NeoGAF, Forbes

France Clears Bill That Could Force Apple to Unlock iPhones

French lawmakers yesterday backed a plan to impose penalties on companies like Apple that deny access to encrypted data during a terrorist investigation.

Under the proposals, a technology company with operations in France would be hit with a €350,000 ($386,000) fine and its executives could be jailed up to five years if it refused to comply with a request to aid investigators in accessing encrypted data. Additionally, every person who refuses to share information relating to an investigation could be sentenced by the government to two years in jail and fined €15,000.

According to Bloomberg Business, the bill amendment that would give legal weight to the power was submitted by opposition party The Republicans, as part of an overhaul of legal procedures in the wake of last year’s terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris.

France’s lower chamber of parliament cleared the bill on first reading by 474 votes to 32. It will be subsequently reviewed by the Senate once it clears the lower house in the coming months.

“The rule aims to force phone makers to give investigators data and it will be up to the manufacturer to use whatever technique is necessary,” Republican lawmaker Philippe Goujon, who proposed the amendment, told Bloomberg. “The target is to have them cooperate. The aim is not to break the encryption – the principle is that manufacturers should cooperate.”

Apple is currently fighting a U.S. court order compelling the company to help the FBI unlock the iPhone owned by deceased terror suspect Syed Farook, one of the shooters in the December 2015 attacks in San Bernardino, California. The FBI asked Apple to create a version of iOS that would both disable passcode security features and allow passcodes to be entered electronically, allowing it to then brute force the passcode on the device.

Apple has officially opposed the order, arguing that the FBI is seeking a “dangerous power” that would undermine the security and privacy interests of hundreds of millions of people. In addition, the company argues that the All Writs Act, which the FBI is using in the case, does not give the government a pass to “conscript and commandeer” the company and sets a precedent that could lead to more insidious demands in the future.

Apple’s opposition to the order will face off against the government in court on March 22.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.
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Trappist Monk Who Inspired Apple’s Fonts Passes Away

The man who inspired Steve Jobs to bring multiple typographic styles to the Mac, the Trappist monk and calligrapher Rev. Robert Palladino, died late last month at the age of 83.

Palladino taught calligraphy classes at Portland’s Reed College, which Jobs attended during his dropout year. Yesterday The Washington Post published a retrospective highlighting the development of Palladino’s art, the encounter between the two men, and the continuing influence Palladino’s calligraphy had on Jobs’ aesthetic vision.

Robert Palladino teaching in 1978 (Image: Reed College)
Palladino’s creative journey began in 1950 when he joined a New Mexico monastery at the age of 17. A scribe monk in the Trappist order noticed Palladino’s elegant handwriting, and tutored him in the art of decorative lettering over the course of five years.

Eventually, Palladino left New Mexico and moved to Lafayette, Oregon, where his art caught the attention of Lloyd Reynolds, an expert calligraphist and the creator of the calligraphy program at Portland’s Reed College.

After striking up a friendship with Reynolds through written correspondence, Palladino left the silent monastic life in 1968 to study under his new mentor full-time, before Reynolds retired a year later and left Reed College’s program in Palladino’s hands.

Steve Jobs enrolled in the college in 1972, but dropped out after his first semester. However, the future Apple co-founder continued to frequent the campus and Palladino’s work soon caught his eye. Jobs recounted his appreciation for the handwritten art in his 2005 commencement address at Stanford:

Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.

“He came back afterwards and consulted me about Greek letters for a type font,” Palladino later recalled for a Reed College 2008 oral history project. “I don’t know if he ever used my Greek letters, or if he just used them as a starting point, but we had a good time. He was educating me about what a computer is, as I hadn’t the foggiest idea what he was talking about.”

Palladino never owned, or even once used, a computer, but recalled Jobs as being “as nice a guy as you could meet,” in a 2011 Hollywood Reporter interview. He also taught other famous students, including typeface designer Sumner Stone, who created the ITC Stone font during his time at Adobe.

Robert Palladino in his home studio in Sandy, Oregon, in 2012 (Image: Liz Devine)
Palladino taught until 1984 before retiring with his wife to a 20-acre farm, where they raised sheep. He became a Catholic priest in 1995, but worked as a professional calligrapher until his death on February 26.

You can watch Palladino interviewed for the 2011 PBS documentary Steve Jobs: One Last Thing, in a segment covering the artistic influences that shaped Jobs’ character.

Tag: Steve Jobs
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Intel buys a 360-degree sports video replay specialist

Intel is already into camera technology with RealSense, but it just took a big leap into sports entertainment by acquiring Replay Technologies. That’s the company behind the crazy 360-degree freeD video used during the slam-dunk competition at this year’s NBA All-Star games (see the video, below). The system can freeze action from any angle then rotate all around it, much like the bullet-time effect used in the Matrix. Intel’s grand idea is to it to create “a new category for sports entertainment that we call immersive sports, which is attracting the attention of leagues, venues, broadcasters and fans,” according to its blog.

Intel was already working closely with Replay Technologies, as it supplied the servers and CPUs used to power the tech. For the NBA, it creates a 3D render of the court using 28 ultrahigh-definition cameras connected to Intel’s servers. The tech produces fairly seamless 360-degree replays, despite producing the occasional bizarre artifact (like pixelated player faces). Now that it’s acquired the tech (for an unknown price) Intel says it will improve the performance and add “new features like the ability to manipulate and edit personalized content.” If the tech trickles down to the consumer side, expect to see all the bullet-time cat videos you never wanted.

Source: Intel

Fujifilm X70 review: Wide-angle wonder

Fujifilm is a winner when it comes to high-end compact cameras. So when the company unveiled the X70 at the tail-end of 2015 we were surprised and delighted by the concept: this 28mm f/2.8 (equivalent) fixed-lens camera pools together all that’s great and good about the X-series in a wide-angle lens package, but unlike its larger X100T brother it ditches the viewfinder.

Which makes it sound more like a standard compact – especially as there’s a touchscreen that can be angled forward for selfies for the first time in the series. But it’s anything but, embracing the retro style and magnesium build quality the X-series is well known for. It’s not going to be a camera for the masses, nor as we’ve found over a long weekend of use is it the fastest model ever, but is the X70 the must-have high-end fixed-lens companion to buy?

Fujifilm X70 review: All about the lens

Those familiar with the X100T will find the X70 positively dinky by comparison. Not that its 112.5 x 64.4 x 44.4mm body is exactly small given the large APS-C sensor at its core, but it’s a whole lot more pocketable thanks to that less substantial lens.

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And that lens is what this camera is all about: a 28mm equivalent with f/2.8 maximum aperture means it’ll be the wider-angle of view many X100T owners have been looking for. There are 35mm and 50mm equivalent digital crop options of sorts too, but as these are buried deep within the menus, are incompatible with raw shooting and, for some untold reason, aren’t assignable to the Fn7 customisable button to the side of the camera, and therefore aren’t particularly practical. So think of the X70 as a 28mm through and through, pretty much – something that we suspect could be easily improved with firmware updates. If you want wider than 28mm then there’s a physical 21mm equivalent wide-angle conversion lens, sold separately (£149).

Anyway, back to the good stuff about the lens. We love how it feels like a pancake from an interchangeable lens camera; it doesn’t protrude excessively from the body, but just enough in order to make aperture selection via the manual control ring nice and easy – this aperture ring has “wings” which are easy to nab with a spare finger to make adjustments, in 1/3 stops if you wish. It avoids being fiddly, and because that lens is so shallow to the body it’s an absolute necessary design feature.

The camera’s magnesium top plate looks the part too, and just like other X-series models has the separate manual shutter and exposure compensation dials for full exposure control. Or, at the flick of a switch, pop the camera into “Auto” and it’ll handle all the settings for you. Just don’t forget you’ve left it there while you’re left wondering why the selected aperture or shutter speed isn’t adjusting – there’s no light or particularly obvious notification that the mode is active, bar from the physical position of the switch.

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Fujifilm X70 review: Pro design?

Now the addition of an Auto switch might make the X70 sound a lot more point-and-shoot than the likes of the X100T, but – and despite the new touchscreen controls, including swipe and pinch much like a smartphone (those later controls during playback only) – the X70 still feels like the modern photographers’ tool. If anything, it makes us question why the X-Pro2 doesn’t have the touchscreen option added as part and parcel of its feature set.

Using the touchscreen of the X70 is super easy: it’s a case of tapping the screen to adjust the focus point and then just letting the AF system kick in and do its business. There’s even a touch shutter option for immediate focus and shooting, although we’ve tended to avoid this one due to accidental snaps by pressing the screen – and you’re then left waiting for that extra microsecond of time while the camera processes an unwanted image to card.

Within the X70’s menus there’s an option to link/unlink spot exposure with the autofocus area, which we expected to separate the points into two manually configurable ones on the screen – but this isn’t the case. Indeed, in the model we have, we can’t see the difference whichever option is selected there.

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The physical button arrangement makes quick-access to settings fairly straightforward, although the lack of markings on the four-way d-pad seems a little odd. Given the scale of the camera some buttons feel too tightly positioned too – pressing the right d-pad means your finger is pressed right up against the lip of the screen; while the video button up top is rather close to the exposure compensation dial; it’s all a little too tightly arranged, not that it’s an impossible-to-use configuration.

The LCD screen lips out from the camera’s body because it’s a tilt-angle design, which can flip up by as much as 180-degrees to face forward. Yep, it’s a selfie screen. And while we’re unlikely to be using it for that use very often, it’s still particularly useful for discreet waist-level shooting, or angling the screen by 45-degrees in the opposite direction for overhead shooting. Use it to its fullest or just use it a little – it’s another logical inclusion in a camera such as this, whether selfie fan or not. Fujifilm X70 review: No viewfinder

The lack of a viewfinder is one obvious absence that sets the X70 apart from the X100T. There’s an argument to make a wider-angle viewfinder-laden X-model to give more choice, but at a 28mm equivalent we suspect there’s a strong chance the optical rangefinder-style solution would present an excessive amount of the lens barrel in the shot (maybe not, though, as it’s a shallow lens).

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Instead the X70 offers a separate optical accessory, a 21mm equivalent that clips into the camera’s hotshoe. If you’re wondering why it’s wider-angle than the 28mm equivalent lens on board then there are two answers: one, the frame is marked out in the finder (although we didn’t get to see this accessory in action for this review) so subjects beyond it can be seen before they enter it, X100-style; and two, there’s that optional 21mm equivalent lens adapter which will match the finder edge-to-edge.

We’re in two minds about the viewfinder situation. Not having that optical-meets-digital crossover of the X100 means the X70 isn’t as versatile as it’s big brother, but then it’s smaller and more affordable as a result. And we’ve not wildly missed using a finder – even when out shooting in sunshine we’ve found the screen to stand up well enough.

Fujifilm X70 review: Performance

When it comes to autofocus there’s been a lot of trumpet-blowing of late from all manufacturers, with the X70’s official webpage boasting “fastest AF” of just 0.1-seconds. Oh, but there are two asterisks next to that statement, because it’s caveats a-go-go – it’s not the world’s fastest or anything like that.

Realistically, and while certainly fast enough, the X70’s autofocus system isn’t the fastest out there; it’s actually one of the camera’s sticking points as we’ve come to find over extended use, with low-light causing the system to hunt. But even when it slows, the accuracy can’t be called into question – and that, perhaps, is the key thing to get absolutely right.

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The autofocus setup is arranged over 77 points when in Zone and Wide/Tracking modes, or 49 selectable points when in Single Point mode. However, when using a single focus point it can be resized between five different sizes to assist with slightly more pinpoint accuracy – something we’ve found distinctly useful when convincing the camera to focus on a near subject rather than the background. Even so, it’s not to the degree of precision that something like Panasonic’s Pinpoint mode offers, which is a shame – no other maker has yet managed a cross-hair-style pinpoint-accurate mode though.

In bright light the X70’s response is at its snappiest, but treat moving subjects with caution – the X70 isn’t a sports photographers’ camera, but then you probably knew that already. Super-fast electronic shutter speed up to 1/32,000th sec is available though, so freezing motion isn’t a problem, or the usual manual-moving shutter works to a maximum 1/8000th sec.

Close-up focus works well too, without the need for a separate “macro” mode. This is a 28mm equivalent after all, so making the most of the f/2.8 wide-open aperture’s ability to pronounce background softness by sticking the camera up close and personal with a subject is the way to do it. Not ideal for portraits, perhaps, without some distance between you and subject.

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Fujifilm X70 review: Image quality

There’s no scrimping on image quality in the X70, just as that’s what has always excelled about the X100T. With the same 16.3-megapixel X-Trans CMOS II APS-C sensor under the hood in both cameras there’s the physical size to enhance shallow depth of field, but also the larger-than-average surface “pixels” to help maintain quality way beyond what a normal compact is capable of producing. In some senses the lack of the X-Trans CMOS III sensor – as per the X-Pro2 – seems like an odd omission, but Fuji’s got to save something for the top-of-the-line model.

Either way, the X70’s resulting images are ridiculously good. We’ve had our minor niggles about the camera’s focus speed from time to time, or the tight arrangement of buttons, but that’s all seemingly forgotten when looking at the images. And that’s what’s important about a camera, right? That f/2.8 aperture pays dividends for beautiful bokeh backgrounds and doesn’t suffer from softness in close-up shooting (like the X100 models do).

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There’s still no ISO 100 option, however, with the range starting at ISO 200, increasing to ISO 6400 (extendable to ISO 100-51,200). No surprises here, seeing as we’ve seen this sensor before. Plus that lens paired with the lowest ISO sensitivity is a sight to behold. Whether shooting old buildings in low sun at f/8, or close-up blossom at f/2.8, the sheer level of detail on offer is quite spectacular.

In part that’s down to the lens, but also the X Trans CMOS II sensor’s structure and its absence of an optical low-pass filter (OLPF). This whacky sensor namesake relates to a colour filter array unique to Fujifilm, put in place to avoid moire and combat false colour – which sometimes results when there’s no low-pass filter. Standard cameras’ colour filters look at a two by two grid of pixels to generate the colours for the four resulting pixels, whereas the X-Trans CMOS II looks at a six by six grid (arranged in a non-linear fashion) to produce the colour data for the resulting 36 pixels within an image. It’s tried and tested technology that the X70 really benefits from.

It also means great low-light results too. Even four-figure ISO settings reveal little to no image- or colour noise, and there’s stacks of detail. Just take a look at the ISO 1250 shot of a stuffed toy lion and revel in the detail in the mane. Such sharpness does begin to suffer in the higher ISO echelons, but even ISO 3200 has clean blacks and only shows some slight softening.

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Plus, if default images aren’t as you want then there are all manner of in-camera adjustments that can be made too: noise reduction, sharpness, colour, shadow and highlight tone levels are all independently adjustable by +/-2 via the quick menu to tailor shots to your liking. There are also film simulation modes – whether classic black and white, or those to mimic classic Fujifilm stocks, including Provia (standard), Velvia (vivid) or Astia (soft).

If you’re looking for image quality bang on the money at this focal length then the X70 produces image quality as good as a pro-spec DSLR. It’s really something.

Verdict

With its £549 price point the X70 might sound expensive, but the kind of image quality that can be squeezed out of it makes it worth every penny. Sure, there’s no viewfinder, but that’s part and parcel of what this pocketable compact is all about. And while some features such as the tilt-angle touchscreen are more, let’s say, commercial, we find them practical.

A fixed-lens compact is never going to be for the masses, though, but as there are so few quality wide-angle solutions out there the Fujifilm X70’s 28mm equivalent is a sure-fire route to success for a discerning audience. If you’re looking for something more flexible then the Panasonic LX100 is probably the route to go down, not that both models are distinctly comparable.

So while we’d like a more detailed and faster autofocus system, and are in two minds about the lack of viewfinder, the X70 is otherwise a champion addition to the X-series. It’s really all about the image quality, which is why we suspect X100T fans and, to some degree, newcomers will be rushing out to buy this wide-angle wonder.

GE wants to use CO2 pollution to make huge solar batteries

Two big problems have been vexing environmental scientists for decades: How to store solar energy for later use, and what to do with CO2 that’s been captured and sequestered from coal plants? Scientists from General Electric (GE) could solve both those problems at once by using CO2 as a giant “battery” to hold excess energy. The idea is to use solar power from mirrors to heat salt with a concentrated mirror array like the one at the Ivanpah solar plant in California. Meanwhile, CO2 stored underground from, say, a coal plant is cooled to a solid dry ice state using excess grid power.

When extra electricity is needed at peak times, especially after the sun goes down, the heated salt can be tapped to warm up the solid CO2 to a “supercritical” state between a gas and solid. It’s then funneled into purpose built turbines (from GE, naturally) which can rapidly generate power. The final “sunrotor” design (a prototype is shown below) would be able to generate enough energy to power 100,000 homes, according to GE.

The design could also tap wasted heat from gas-fired power plants, making them more efficient. GE senior engineer Stephen Sanborn thinks such a scheme would more than double the output of those systems, reducing the cost from $250 per megawatt-hour to $100. “It is so cheap because you are not making the energy, you are taking the energy from the sun or the turbine exhaust, storing it and transferring it,” he says. In addition, the system would return up to 68 percent of the stored energy back to the grid, much more than the 61 percent of current gas-fired systems.

While the system is complex and requires expertise in refrigeration, heat-transfer, energy storage and chemical engineering, GE has in-house researchers in all those fields. In the short term, the technology could make gas plants 25 to 50 percent more efficient by tapping exhaust waste, significantly reducing CO2 output. Looking ahead, Sanborn thinks that the energy storage system could be put into commercial use in as little as five to 10 years. “We’re not talking about three car batteries here,” he says. “The result is a high-efficiency, high-performance renewable energy system that will reduce the use of fossil fuels for power generation.”

Via: Discover.com

Source: General Electric

Barclays’ ‘MakerSpaces’ offer 3D printing to local businesses

The worlds of banking and technology intersect at many points, but you’d hardly consider 3D printing a shared interest. In Barclays’ “MakerSpaces,” though, it’s common ground. Equipped with 3D printers, laser cutters, tools and technicians, Barclays has begun setting up these maker-friendly zones in vacant branch and office spaces. The bank is making their facilities available to local businesses (customers and non-customers alike) for rapid prototyping and such, with community events, corporate days, school trips and training sessions filling blank spaces in the calendar.

MakerSpaces are one of two types of Barclays “Eagle Labs” — part of the bank’s wider digital skills education program — the other being the slightly more boring “Incubators.” These are shared workspaces for startups (aka “high-growth firms”) and entrepreneurs to collaborate, network and talk startup stuff in, with mentoring from Barclays folks, naturally. While the first of these Incubator spaces is yet to debut, pilot MakerSpaces have already opened this year in Cambridge and Bournemouth.

Another will give new purpose to a redundant branch in Brighton this week, and Barclays plans to bring the total number of Eagle Labs to 20 by the end of the year (sites in Birmingham and Huddersfield among them). And if they really catch on, perhaps one day you’ll be able to pay in cheques and print naked, 3D selfies all in one place.

Source: Barclays

Popular Mac Writing App ‘Ulysses’ Makes iPhone Debut

Ulysses saw its first universal app for iOS hit the App Store today, bringing the popular distraction-free Mac writing software to the iPhone for the first time.

Ulysses Mobile for iPhone and iPad features cross-platform iCloud synchronization, Spotlight integration, iPad Pro optimizations, and support for 3D Touch, Split View and Slide Over on compatible devices.

Surprisingly, the 2.5 update also brings many of the text editor’s desktop features to all iOS devices, including dark and light writing modes, text statistics, writing goals, tools for Markdown, footnotes, code, annotations, and sort/split/merge options for sheets and groups.

Both iPhone and iPad users can now add pictures, links or notes to their text, customize the color palette, and export from Ulysses’ unified text library in a range of formats, including DOCX files, ebooks, PDF, and online publishing platform Medium.

Automatic scheduled backups have also made the port, while a sharing extension has been added allowing users to send content from third-party apps directly to the app.

Additionally, desktop and iOS users can now import text created with Word into their Ulysses library, so that text elements such as headings, emphases and footnotes remain intact.

The cross-platform update also brings under-the-hood improvements to the Mac app, enhancing speed, stability, and iCloud integration.

Ulysses Mobile is available on the App Store at an introductory price of $19.99 ($24.99 thereafter) and as a free upgrade for existing users. [Direct Link]

Ulysses for Mac is available on the Mac App Store priced at $44.99. [Direct Link]
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