Early Samsung Gear 360 photos look amazing

It’s starting to look like Samsung’s Gear 360 camera might be one of the best you can buy.

A good photosphere or 360-degree photo is mostly about the stitching. Done right, these photos can take you to another place and time, allowing you to see the whole area as it was captured in that moment, instead of just a planned window into that space. There’s more to see, more to explore, and the act of doing so is just plain fun as long as there aren’t messy lines or jagged edges to pull you back to reality. When dealing with 360-degree cameras that take pictures with multiple sensors, it’s hard to avoid distortion when connecting those two images.

One of the big questions we’ve had about the Gear 360 is how well Samsung handles the stitch between the two cameras. While we’ve not yet been able to wander around and take photos with a Gear 360 of our own, some early shots we’ve found make it look like Samsung may be preparing to release one of the most capable 360-degree cameras under $500.

We’ve seen the early, early prototype video from Casey Neistat at the Oscars. While it was made abundantly clear that his video wasn’t a final version of the software, things didn’t look too bad. There’s a clear stitching line in a lot of the scenes, but overall the quality was decent. Things have improved a bit since then, and while we don’t have new videos from Neistat to compare, we’ve got some decent photos to look at.

T-Mobile’s Des Smith has been rocking a Gear 360 for a little while now, and his Flickr page has a healthy collection of photos from multiple 360-degree cameras to get a general quality compare with. As you can see in the photo above, the stitch line combining the two images is practically nonexistent. The only visual distortion is at the very top and bottom of the image, which is common in all 360-degree photos.

Another issue commonly seen with dual-sensor 360-degree cameras is the massive difference in things like ISO when one side of the camera is facing the sun and another side is not. You wind up with this weird dividing line in the sky when only one sensor has to compensate for all of the extra light or dark. The Gear 360 seems to handle this as well as can be expected, revealing little more than lens flare to let you know these are actually two different pictures.

While there’s still quite a bit to be done in the way of testing with this camera, it’s starting to look more and more like Samsung and Ricoh are going to be fiercely competitive when it comes to camera quality and overall features when the Gear 360 launches later this year. And we might well here more about that at this week’s Samsung DevCon in San Francisco. Stay tuned for more!

Google’s new MODE bands change the smartwatch game forever

Being together without being the same now also applies to watchbands.

Watch any of the Android Wear commercials, and you’ll see the same basic message. Take any smartwatch design you like, and the basic features will be the same. It’s a great message, and a fantastic embodiment of the overall Android motto right now. It looks like Google has plans to take that idea one step further with a new watchband tech called MODE, and to help introduce this idea to the world they’ve partnered up with Hadley Roma to release a collection of impressively designed watchbands.

Here’s a quick look at how it all works, and where you can get you hands on these bands.

MODE is an open-source replacement to the traditional method of attaching a watchband to a watch. In the past, you push a spring-loaded pin through the watchband and try to attach the pin to the lugs on your watch. If you were lucky the strap you bought would come with “quick release” pins that gave you a little lever to help make releasing the pin a little easier. MODE allows you to put the pin on the watch first, and use a simple toggle switch to lock the watchband onto the pin. The end result is a watchband that feels just like any other when attached to the watch, but is significantly faster to detach and re-attach at will.

If you’re a fan of swapping watchbands based on your activities this couldn’t be any easier or faster.

In some ways, MODE feels like an answer to Apple’s quick release straps for the Apple Watch. Apple’s design works well enough for its one watch design, but MODE will work for just about everything else. The watchbands made by Hadley Roma already support 16mm to 22mm watches, and are launching on the Google Store today in an impressive variety of colors and materials. We’ve been testing the white silicon band and the black leather band for a couple of days, and couldn’t be happier with the quality.

The silicon sport band is a higher quality than any of the sport bands that come with any Android Wear watch currently, and do a fantastic job keeping moisture away from your wrist. It’s also go a nice metal clasp, unlike some of the other sport bands we’ve come across. Meanwhile the leather band from Hadney Roma claims to be genuine Italian leather, and the soft underside of the watchband feels great. The narrow design helps make the Huawei Watch feel a little smaller on my wrist, and is absolutely an improvement over the included leather band from Huawei.

Given the quality of the materials and the use of a new connector, these watchbands are surprisingly affordable. The silicone band we’ve been testing will run you $50, and the leather option is available for $60. Compared to the $40+ you’ll find for replacement bands made by Motorola for the Moto 360, there’s a lot to like here. Given Google’s decision to open source the attachment tech, there’s no doubt we’ll see even more options available in the not-so-distant future.

It’s a cool new idea, and if you’re a fan of swapping watchbands based on your activities this couldn’t be any easier or faster. All we need to know now is which manufacturer will start offering these new designs as the default, which is absolutely what should happen next.

See at Amazon

See at Google

See at Best Buy

$100 million in funding puts real money into HTC’s virtual reality play

HTC has announced a new global accelerator program for virtual reality start-ups called Vive X. The $100 million investment will help provide expertise and mentorship to help the VR ecosystem continue to grow at a quick pace.With this, HTC hopes that these start-ups will be able to create valuable content for the Vive platform and get it to the market for everyone to enjoy.

Beijing, Taipei and San Francisco will be the first hubs open for start-ups to receive one-on-one attention, and HTC hopes to open more around the world in the future. Full details about the new investment from HTC into VR can be found below.

Press release:

HTC LAUNCHES GLOBAL ACCELERATOR PROGRAM FOR VIRTUAL REALITY START-UPS

Vive X to provide $100m investment, expertise and mentorship to help grow the VR ecosystem

26 April 2016 – HTC Corporation (“HTC”), a pioneer in innovative, smart technologies, today announced it is launching Vive X, a global accelerator program targeted at start-ups operating in the virtual reality (VR) space.

With a $100m investment fund led by HTC, the program is designed to help cultivate, foster and grow the global VR ecosystem by supporting start-ups and providing them with expertise, special access to advanced VR technology, financial investment, mentorship and unmatched go-to-market support – ultimately building them into valuable content producers or content enablers for the Vive platform.

Starting in three cities – Beijing, Taipei and San Francisco, with a view to rolling out across other global hubs in the near future – Vive X offers start-ups the opportunity to be based in one of those cities for an initial growth period, during which they will have access to funding, leading VR know-how, hands-on coaching, and office space. They will also be invited to demo days, where leading investors will be in attendance, and to HTC’s offices for intensive training with our first-party development studios and to meet key members of the Vive engineering and management teams.

In Beijing, Vive X will pilot in May 2016, when selected start-ups from around Asia will be invited to apply for the program, with the goal of enabling those companies to grow with the Vive platform. As in the other locations, Vive X in Beijing is targeted at accelerating entrance and growth for companies with proven success in the VR industry, with each participating start-up receiving cash investment in return for a small amount of equity. The program is open to companies from any industry that are creating content, tools, applications and accessories that enrich the VR ecosystem and end-user experience.

“We are very excited about gathering the brightest and the most creative minds to join Vive X. Virtual reality is changing the world, yet to do that effectively it needs a healthy eco-system to expand into the mass market. Through HTC Vive, we look forward to enabling global talent to create interesting and compelling content and to help shape the future of this industry,” said Cher Wang, Chairwoman and CEO of HTC.

Visit http://www.htcvive.com/us/vivex/ to learn more about Vive X and http://www.HTCVive.com to learn more about the HTC Vive.

YouTube app redesign taps into machine learning for better recommendations

Starting today, the YouTube Android app is getting a slightly updated look with more personal recommendations. Rolling out today, the most apparent change is a move to bigger thumbnails on YouTube’s home screen. Video thumbnails are now larger and now form a continuous feed, rather than being split into categories.

However, the most interesting change is the new recommendation system, which is build on machine learning. From Google:

This isn’t just a new coat of paint on the same old Home—we’ve coupled a fresh design with more relevant personalized recommendations that make it easier to discover videos you’ll be excited to watch. The new recommendation system is based on deep neural network technology, which means it can find patterns automatically and keep learning and improving as it goes. Every day, we recommend hundreds of millions of different videos on Home, billions of times, in 76 languages.

The updated look and recommendation engine are both rolling out now, so you should be able to check them out sooner rather than later.

Ford, Google and Uber form a group to push for self-driving cars

Some of the biggest names in transportation tech aren’t waiting around for the US to legalize self-driving cars — they’re determined to give the government a boost. Ford, Google, Lyft, Uber and Volvo have formed the Self-Driving Coalition for Safer Streets in a bid to have officials “realize the safety and societal benefits” of autonomous vehicles. In other words, they’re going to advocate for federal laws and regulations that put self-driving technology on roads across the country.

Just where and how they’ll start isn’t clear. However, it won’t be shocking if the group turns up at the NHTSA’s second public hearing on self-driving car regulation on April 27th. We’ve asked some of the companies involved if they can shed light on their plans, and we’ll let you know if they have something to add at this early stage.

In some ways, this is more of a defensive measure than an attempt to fast-track new technology. The companies are worried that state-level legislation will make it difficult to build self-driving cars that you can legally use in every state. For example, California has proposed rules that would require controls and a licensed driver at the helm in case of an emergency — Google doesn’t like that this would render the cars useless for disabled people. The NHTSA is generally on the Coalition’s side (it wants to avoid a “patchwork” of rules), but the group’s members aren’t willing to leave anything to chance.

Source: Reuters

Google’s Mode Android Wear bands snap on for easy changes

If you want to change the band on your Android wear device, it takes a few minutes. Thanks to a new line of accessories Google, though, swapping out that wrist strap can be done in a matter of seconds. Google revealed its new Mode “snap-and-swap” bands today in 10 shades of leather and 6 different silicone hues. Each material is available in four widths, with the former starting at $60 while pricing on the latter starts at $50.

This first collection of bands from Hadley-Roma features a slider button on the inside that allows you to attach/detach a band quickly. Google says it wants to give the Android Wear faithful as many options as possible, so it’s sharing the mechanism with other accessory makers. It’s also making changing bands on those gadgets as easy as it is for owners of the Apple Watch. Of course, you’ll need to make sure your wearable device has the pin needed to accommodate the Mode bands — some Android-powered smartwatches do not. If you’re looking to nab one of the new straps, you can do so now from the Google Play store, Amazon and Best Buy.

Source: Google (Android Blog)

YouTube for iOS Gains Revamped Homepage With Better Recommendations

YouTube for iOS and Android is being updated with a new homepage starting today, replacing the small thumbnails that offered up recommended videos with a single in-line content stream that serves up ranked recommended videos based on an improved algorithm.

Whether you want to watch hilarious sketch comedy, your favorite vlogger, new let’s plays, or music videos, you should be able to see new videos you love every time you visit YouTube–right on your homepage. Starting today, when you open the YouTube app on your iPhone or Android phone, you’ll experience a redesigned Home, with a clean and simple format that invites you to discover and enjoy.

With the single stream, video previews on the home screen are larger and easier to scroll through to find interesting content, much like the trending videos displayed in the Trending tab. The new algorithm, which is based on deep neural network technology, is able to refresh videos on a more frequent basis so content displayed is kept up to date and it’s able to present content that’s more relevant to each user’s tastes.

According to YouTube, people who have tested the new system spend more time watching fresh videos and content from their Subscriptions.

YouTube can be downloaded from the App Store for free. [Direct Link]

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You can buy Uncharted 4 on eBay now, thanks to pre-order shipping error

Reports are emerging that some retailers such as Amazon have accidentally shipped copies of Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End to pre-order customers two weeks ahead of its official release date.

That has lead to several copies appearing on eBay for as much as £100.

It is unknown whether all the copies listed on eBay.co.uk are genuine, so be wary if you are one of those willing to pay double to get the game a fortnight early. However, with photos of sealed copies accompanying listings, they certainly look the real deal.

Multiple Twitter users are also claiming they’ve received their pre-ordered copy already.

“#uncharted4 is HERE!” claims Shady (@alzayani313) on his Twitter feed. He also posts images of the packaging.

Others around the globe have also posted, suggesting that it isn’t a problem limited to the UK.

One, @ProFeSsoR_10 even shows an image of the game installed on his PS4. And another of several copies in his possession.

Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End is one of the most eagerly anticipated games for this generation and comes out officially on 10 May. Amazon.co.uk’s current pre-order price is set at £44.

Copies received or purchased ahead of launch day will not be able to access multiplayer until the servers are enabled, so only the campaign mode is currently working.

New Homefront: The Revolution trailer shows why it could be most interesting FPS this year

Homefront: The Revolution will be released on Xbox One, PS4 and PC on 20 May and the latest trailer to hit the net shows why it’ll be worth keeping an eye on.

After mixed reviews for the first Homefront game, Deep Silver and developer Dambuster Studios have rebooted the franchise for the new generation machines. It has stuck with the original premise, however, as detailed in the “America Has Fallen” short.

The General Korean Republic invaded the US after effectively taking down the country’s armed forces through control over their technologies. This time around though, you fight as part of the revolution aiming to take the States back.

A couple of things strike the latest Homefront apart from other first-person shooters out there. It is open world, with side missions to complete alongside regular campaign missions. And it is the first game to be developed by a hybrid of Crytek and Free Radical Design staff members.

READ: E3 2016: All the launches, games and consoles to expect

Free Radical Design previously developed the TimeSplitters series of games from the noughties. It also worked on the two Crysis sequels as Crytek UK.

The trailer can be viewed in 1440p and it taken from the main introduction to the game, hence the cross between live action and CGI effects.

What becomes of Facebook when people start to value privacy?

Facebook’s role in the world has changed though I didn’t expect to have an epiphany about that while sitting in the pews of a drafty, 11th-century church. It was at a wedding earlier this month, and the program handed out bore a disclaimer that would have been mystifying a few years ago. “Roger and Stephanie* would like to request that guests DO NOT post any photos of the ceremony, or share anything to social media relating to the day.” Instead of wanting to broadcast their special moments to the world, they were actively asking people to do the opposite. The truth is that Facebook was designed for people to spill their guts, but now more people are deciding that their privacy is more important.

Facebook is rumored to be having a crisis behind the scenes, centered around something called “original sharing.” It’s the technical term for the sort of personal, from-the-heart updates that people make about their own lives. For instance, a piece of original sharing content would be a written status update, a selfie or a video of a newborn puppy doing a trick. But people haven’t been posting these as frequently, at least according to a detailed report published by The Information earlier this month. The news site claims to have seen confidential documents showing a 21 percent drop in original sharing over the last year.

By blurring the lines between public and private, Facebook has forced people to become more guarded.

I asked Facebook for a response, and a spokesperson said that “people continue to share a ton on Facebook.” Its representatives added that “the overall level of sharing has remained not only strong, but similar to levels in prior years.” But that statement doesn’t address the actual source of the alleged problem: People are still sharing, but what they’re sharing has changed. Gone are the days when people poured the uncensored gamut of their lives onto their profile pages. And you’re never going to be as engaged watching a John Oliver video as you are keeping track of what your friends are doing. Which is a problem, since your attention is the natural resource that helps Facebook make its millions.

I spoke to Facebook user Sidney Macdonald who also requested a social media blackout at her wedding. Her reasons were twofold: First, she didn’t want to see a “sea of phones [as I was] walking down the aisle.” Second, she feels that “too many people post things that aren’t for them to post on social media, like other people’s pregnancies.” In this sense, Facebook might have become a victim of its own success: By blurring the lines between public and private information, it’s forced people to become more guarded.

It was different a decade ago, when people weren’t as obsessed with manicuring their online images as they are today. Jeri* wound up quitting the site despite being an avid user since her university days, specifically because her profile showed her warts and all. Her page included photos taken at college, including one where she was the unwitting victim during a game of Human Buckaroo. It didn’t occur to her that, when her employees asked to connect with her on the site that they’d spend any time delving into her past. But one member of the team found a picture of the sleeping Jeri, covered in cookware, and began to pass it around the office.

When Facebook started, we put photos of our drunken, youthful hijinks online because, hey, everyone else was doing it, right? The intervening years probably eroded our collective spirit of #YOLO faster than we’d like to admit. Dicks like Jeri’s colleagues are one reason we all started to clam up online, and what Edward Snowden taught the world was another. He told us that the government was spending inordinate amounts of time watching everything we do online. Even worse, NSA employees were extracting pictures of naked women from private messages and sharing them around the office. It’s no surprise to see that people started to become more guarded online when there’s a risk that Seal Team 6 has seen you in the buff.

You’re not going to hang out at the same bar where your parents and grandparents are regulars.

User Dave McGeady says that Facebook’s push to connect everyone in the world has caused a shift in its ethos. Back in the old days, he felt the site was “an old wall where people might scribble graffiti” but has now become a public space with eyes everywhere. As he says, “an ‘edgy’ joke might be interpreted the wrong way” by people who aren’t in on the gag. That’s not a defense of people having a space to be dicks either, but a legitimate psychological need not to be under scrutiny all the time. It’s a common malaise of open-plan office workers since the lack of space for people to be themselves causes serious harm to both productivity and mental health.

At 31, I’m too old to be a millennial by most standards, but it seems that even the generation that followed mine is disaffected with Facebook. Sam* for instance, is 25, making him an ideal target for advertisers who want to get to him via social media. But he’s stopped engaging with Facebook because, in his own words, he’s “no longer a teenager or at college where something crazy happens each week.” He feels the site has become something of a link dump and has become bored of the site’s news feed, saying that it’s now full of “shit videos and listicles that people can like and share without trying.”

Facebook’s algorithmic news feed also came under fire from fashion blogger Jennifer Rosellen, who said that ditching a chronological list of updates was a mistake. The automatically curated feed “means it’s often pointless, as your posts get lost in people’s news feeds.” Despite also being a millennial, she feels that she’s now “too old” for the site, even though her 55-year-old father and his friends are avid users. Maybe that’s another problem: You’re not going to hang out at the same bar where your parents and grandparents are regulars.

The 18 to 30 crowd are now turning on their heel and taking their social media interactions elsewhere, and by elsewhere, I mean Snapchat. Research firm Piper Jaffray surveyed 6,500 teenagers and found that they ranked Facebook as the fourth most desirable place to hang out online. The aging site now lags behind Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, which means it doesn’t even get a medal in the coolness race. Facebook has traditionally dealt with such existential threats by opening up its checkbook, picking up Instagram and WhatsApp for around $20 billion. But it doesn’t look as if Snapchat, the closest contender for the millennial crown, can be bought off so easily: The service has already rebuffed a $3 billion buyout attempt. Twitter, too, through its Vine and Periscope arms, dominates a live video market that Facebook is only now entering.

Credit: Piper Jaffray

It’s important to see what those other services offer that Facebook cannot and why Snapchat has won so many teenage hearts and minds. If you wanted to brag about your hobbies in a space your parents can’t see, you’d go somewhere other than Facebook. Fifteen-year-old Ishan Haque explained to Business Insider that he doesn’t post to Facebook “unless it’s something to do with family or making me look like a Good Samaritan.” Snapchat, meanwhile, lets you tell your friends you got high on 4/20 and the image disappears in a matter of seconds. It also warns you if someone tries to record the picture for posterity, enforcing trust between friends.

People are resentful of the blurred lines between public and private information and are taking strong measures to protect themselves. It makes Sheryl Sandberg’s comment that “you can’t be on Facebook without being your authentic self” sound even more foolish: A combination of public exposure and societal pressure means that Facebook now puts you on your best behavior. Engadget has previously reported on how people prefer to split their lives across a wide range of social media, but this isn’t the Facebook way. Its attempt to become the single, preeminent social network has led to a situation where everyone’s all in the same room, but nobody’s talking.

*Names have been changed. Some quotes have been edited for clarity.