Tell this robot to graffiti a wall for you

We’ve seen our fair share of weird things at CES this week, but there was one thing outside the Las Vegas Convention Center that surprised even us Engadget editors. As we were walking toward the building, we came across an unattended (and seemingly unnamed) robot that takes voice commands to show off its spray painting skills. While it’s obviously no Banksy, it’s yet another example of how Bluetooth devices are being used to control stuff around you. Sure, this isn’t the most practical use for voice commands, but you can’t deny how neat the project is.

A video posted by Edgar Alvarez (@edgaralvarezb) on Jan 7, 2017 at 10:23am PST

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Watch HTC Vive’s wireless VR adapter and object tracker in action

Virtual reality has plenty of hurdles to surpass before it reaches mainstream acceptance, among them is the need to be tethered to a computer for high-quality VR. So it’s no surprise that wireless VR tracking is a big focus for the HTC Vive this year. And on top of that, the Vive Tracker will also let developers easily bring just about anything into VR worlds. We had a chance to test out both new devices at CES this year, and while they’re in fairly early stages, it’s clear they’ll fundamentally change the VR landscape this year.

I tried out TPCast’s Vive wireless adapter, which will be available globally in the second quarter of this year for $249, and came away mostly impressed. It’s a small device that attaches to the top of the Vive’s headset and completely replaces the need for the Vive’s clunky umbilical cord. While you can use the TPCast’s adapter completely wirelessly for about an hour and a half, I tested it with a large battery pack that had to sit in my back pocket. And yes, that meant I had a cable once again, but it still provided more freedom than the typical Vive setup.

I didn’t have any synchronization or delay issues while wearing the TPCast adapter, even as I tried to move my head around a lot. Together with a large gun accessory (which had the Vive Tracker attached), I was able to move around a decently sized space, shoot baddies and dodge bullets. While the gun had some synchronization issues (remember, these are all early demos), I was surprised by how well the head tracking worked. I expected some nausea-inducing stuttering, but it was all as smooth as the tethered Vive experience.

In a mixed-reality demo for First Contact’s Rom, the Vive Tracker was also attached to a hefty gun, which did a decent job of following my movements as I ducked behind virtual barricades. From my perspective, it was a fairly straightforward shooter, but observers were able to see how I was moving around the virtual space from external monitors. At this point, expect plenty of developers to slap the Tracker on gun accessories. It’s a lot easier than attaching a full-sized Vive controller, which was how many companies previously handled virtual tracking.

The Vive Deluxe Audio Strap, which I wore during that demo, was also surprisingly comfortable. It makes it easier to slip on and tighten the Vive to your noggin. The strap also moves much of the Vive’s weight to the back of your head, which was a big help for me (I’ve always felt it was way too front-heavy). The built-in headphones sound great, and they’re a lot easier to manage than a standalone pair of cans.

You can also expect the Vive Tracker to lead to all sorts of new ways to interact with VR worlds. Master of Shapes, who developed the Castrol Virtual Drift experience last year, is using it to let people use their smartphones to join in with their friends’ VR gaming. You can actually see the VR environment through your smartphone, which allows you to quickly team up with your buddies. It looks ridiculous, but it’s also a wonderfully unique (and necessary) way to extend VR experiences out of the headset.

The Vive Tracker isn’t just useful for guns either: Manus is using them together with a pair of their prototype gloves to accurate track your finger and arm movements. We’ve seen finger tracking before, but the ability to track the articulation of your arms and elbows seems unique. The tracking data their gear collects could be used to analyze athlete performance and handle virtual objects (something enterprises are increasingly interested in).

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Nintendo mini NES modders figure out how to add new games

There was no doubt Nintendo’s miniature NES Classic Edition was going to be a hit, especially around the holiday season. The affordable retro console hit all the right nostalgic notes, but there’s a consensus Nintendo missed a trick by omitting any way to add new games to the system beyond the 30 preinstalled titles. Also, it shouldn’t be that hard — the mini NES is just an emulator in a pretty package, after all. Well, leave it up to the internet to do what Nintendo wouldn’t. The modding community has successfully cooked up ways to load additional games onto the system, and all you need is a PC and a micro-USB cable.

Though no specialist equipment is required, a certain amount of technical knowhow is recommended. A post on the NESClassicmods subreddit links to an English translation of a method discovered by a Russian hacker (a Japanese modder has also published a guide) if you’re confident enough to give it a try. But be warned, you could irreparably fry the little console if anything goes wrong.

The step-by-step is a little complex, but if you’re interested, you first need to have created a save file in Super Mario Bros. Then you have to hook the console up to a PC and boot it into special “FEL” mode while running an interfacing tool on your computer. You then have to copy data off the mini NES, unpack it, modify it, add any game ROMs you’ve downloaded — most of which are illegal if you don’t own the original cartridge, just FYI — before zipping it all back up again and overwriting the data on the console with this new package. The added games should then be listed in the regular UI if everything went to plan.

It’s not the simplest of hacks and as it’s early days, there’s no definitive list of what ROMs will work (or not) when side-loaded onto the NES Classic Edition. But apparently, storage isn’t an issue, with the bravest of souls reporting smooth sailing after adding tens of extra titles to the little box.

While the modding community is adding longevity to the NES Classic Edition, perhaps even persuading more people to give the hardware a look, Nintendo might have something to say about these hacking efforts. The company is notorious for taking issue with anything outside of its control, whether that be using its hardware in unintended ways or fan-made homages to classic characters.

Via: Ars Technica

Source: Reddit (NESClassicmods)

3D-printed ceramics and metals might finally arrive this year

Remember 3D printing? A couple years ago it was hotly tipped to revolutionize manufacturing, since you could have a whole factory in your home! Except, really, it wouldn’t, because spending hundreds or thousands of dollars on a box to make cute plastic doodads wasn’t really what most folks wanted. A few years later, having a 3D printer at home is still generally unnecessary, but that may change, and soon. Ish.

Formlabs, for instance, has turned up at CES touting an experimental resin that can enable people to create ceramic objects with regular 3D printing. Ceramic particles are suspended inside the resin, which prints out just as the plastic currently used for additive manufacturing. But when you fire your new creation in an oven, it hardens just like a regular piece of ceramic, suitable for glazing and use just like the real thing. Unfortunately, it’s just a demo for now, but the company is hoping to develop the material ready for wider consumption this year.

Then there’s 3D printing with metal, which is seen as something of a holy grail for many industries looking to craft tools, parts and devices. It’s possible right now, using sintering, and is both costly and time-consuming in a way that means it’s outside the reach of most hobbyists. Florida startup Ability 3D is looking to change that with its metal addictive manufacturing 3D printer that’s actually designed for the home — or, at least, workshop or garage.

The unit has been set up like a regular 3D printing, but the head has been swapped out for a MIG welder on a moving plate. It can accept regular MIG welding wire, enabling it to produce doodads out of aluminum, steel and stainless steel. But one innovation that the company is proud to talk about is the addition of a trimming bit to clean up printed objects. For instance, we saw this block of solid aluminum (pictured) that had been printed and polished across four layers.

The company was founded by Ben Willard, a 3D printer technician, and his wife Nicholl Hyatt, who is in marketing. Hyatt explained that Willard grew tired of “waiting around for MakerBot” to build a printer that could handle metal. As such, he was motivated to develop his own, which he plans to launch on Kickstarter in March.

At $3,000 it isn’t cheap, but considering the potential of the device to empower hobbyists to produce metal components, it may be quite a big deal. Hyatt also said that she’s had a lot of interest from classic car fans looking to craft replacement parts that are otherwise unavailable. Point is, we may be close to the day when 3D printing doesn’t instantly bring to mind images of useless tchotchkes.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

IMDb tells California it will continue to publish actors’ ages

With age discrimination rife in Hollywood, California wanted to do something about it. That meant introducing a new law that didn’t actually target the root cause of the problem — i.e. penalizing the people who engage in the practice — but instead stopped websites from publishing an individual’s age. IMBb, the movie listing website owned by Amazon, was told in September that it would need to remove ages and birthdates of performers by January 1st, 2017. It’s been a week since the deadline passed and IMDb hasn’t done a thing.

On Thursday, IMDb issued a court filing asking judges to introduce a preliminary injunction that would stop the Attorney General of California from enforcing California Assembly Bill 1687. It argues that instead of tackling unfair industry practices, the state had “chosen instead to chill free speech and to undermine access to factual information of public interest.” The company believes it violates the First Amendment, and that should be enough for it to not be enforced.

The law in question dictates that “information obtained on an Internet Web site regarding an individual’s age will not be used in furtherance of employment or age discrimination.” In just over three months, over 2,300 people have requested to have their ages removed from the IMDbPro service, which provides detailed information for casting agents and other professionals in the industry. Helen Mirren, shown above, previously said that ageism in Hollywood is “outrageous,” particularly in regards to “ridiculous” casting decisions that match much older men with young female love interests.

While legal action is ongoing, IMDb says it won’t pull age information from its listings. Bear in mind that while the movie website may be forced to comply in the future, other public websites like Wikipedia will still be able to freely share such data.

Via: CNET

Source: IMDb Legal Filing (PDF)

The best coffee table of CES

After weeks of trials and tribulations, I’m excited to announce Engadget’s Best of CES winner in the hotly contested coffee table category: Retrobit’s Mega Table.

Okay, so I’ve only seen one coffee table at CES, and I’m also not in charge of our awards. But the Mega Table is pretty great anyway. It’s a wooden coffee table with a giant wooden d-pad and action buttons, that can be used to control all manner of games consoles.

The device here is just a prototype, but Retrobit is planning on heading to a crowdfunding site to make it a reality. At an estimated $500, it’s not exactly an impulse buy, but I’ve bought more expensive coffee tables in my time, and its dual-purpose design might make it an interesting conversation piece for your games room.

Edgar Alvarez contributed to this report.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

BlackBerry’s ‘Mercury’ prototype makes a cameo on our CES stage

We knew a new BlackBerry was coming, and we were even pretty sure it would have one of those classic physical keyboards. Sure enough, when official word of the BlackBerry “Mercury” prototype dropped during the show, people nostalgic for the smartphone company’s golden years swooned. But how did this happen? What did TCL, the company now in charge of making BlackBerry hardware, get right? And more importantly, when will TCL and BlackBerry let slip all of the really juicy details? Jason Gerdon, senior manager of communications for TCL America, joined us on the Engadget CES stage to take us through it all, and we’ve put together a quick little primer to sum up what we’ve learned.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Volkwagen is adding Amazon Alexa to its cars

Ford isn’t the only auto company adding Amazon’s Alexa to its cars — Volkswagen plans to do the same. From the quick demo I had on the CES show floor, it seems like a pretty smart pairing. VW’s Alexa-enabled cars will basically have full access to everything the Echo can do, but the company built its own skill to enable a handful of car-centric features.

For starters, you can ask Alexa to give you the status of your car. This one is more useful when you’re not actually in it, but if you’re at home you can hear about whether your car is locked or unlocked, how much fuel is left, whether it’s charing or not (if it’s an EV), and what its approximate range is. You can then ask Alexa to lock or unlock the car or even beep the horn if you need to help someone find it.

You can also ask Alexa to buy supplies for your car. Since owners have to sync their VW Car-Net accounts with Amazon to get Alexa working, that means Alexa will know exactly what kind of oil or windshield wipers work with your specific vehicle.

Naturally, Alexa can help with directions as well. If you’re at home, you can ask for a route and Alexa will tell you how long it’ll take. It then asks if you want to send that route to your car. If you say yes, it’ll be waiting for you in your navigation system all set to go. Of course, you can ask for directions in the car as well, but if you’re planning your trip before leaving home you might as well remove a step from the process once you’re behind the wheel. While you’re at it, if you’re listening to media at home, you can ask Alexa to pause it and resume it once you’re back in the car.

The last feature is one of the most useful, at least to someone like me who forgets everything. VW added location-based reminders, so you can ask your car to remind you to pick up dinner when you leave work or grab the mail when you arrive home. A VW spokesperson says that its solution is better than using location-based reminders in Android or iOS because your phone doesn’t ping the GPS often enough to reliably remind you when you’re leaving or arriving somewhere. That may be true, but I’ve never noticed my phone taking the “10 to 20 minutes” the VW spokesperson claimed it routinely takes for a smartphone to activate a location based reminder. Either way, it’s a useful addition to VW’s software.

In Amazon’s Alexa app, you’ll see everything that you’ve asked your car, just like you can see everything you ask the Echo speaker. That’s also where you’ll go to complete any shopping orders you try and place, and you can find your reminders there as well. I got a quick in-car demo of Alexa, and it’s worth noting that nothing you ask Alexa shows up on the car’s infotainment system. That makes sense, as there shouldn’t be anything there to distract you from the task of driving. But even if you’re not actually driving, your phone will remain the place to go if you want to see what’s in your cart or what reminders you set up.

VW says that there’s no timeframe yet for when Alexa will come to its cars, unfortunately, as it’s still under development. But the good news is that any VW with its Car-Net software will get Alexa eventually. The service has been around since 2013, so that’s a pretty good range of cars. Hopefully it’ll launch sooner than later — Ford says its going to begin its Alexa rollout later this month.

Click here to catch up on the latest news from CES 2017.

Source: VW