Spigen has a trademark beef with Andy Rubin’s Essential Products

We’re still about a month away from the first Essential Phone hitting the market, but there may be a problem. According to documents provided to Android Police, well-known mobile accessory maker Spigen has trademarked the Essential name for certain accessories it builds (battery packs, chargers and Bluetooth headphones), and is worried that Andy Rubin’s new outfit could cause confusion.

Spigen claims the new company has had its trademark attempt rejected twice, and because Essential Products is moving forward anyway, Spigen sent a cease-and-desist letter. The response from a spokesperson? “Essential believes they are without merit and will respond appropriately.” Essential is hardly a unique designation, but the close quarters of the products are interesting, even if the newcomer seems unbothered.

Source: Android Police

Samsung made a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed Galaxy S8

Samsung never misses a prime marketing opportunity.

The company has announced you can get a Pirates of the Caribbean-themed version of the Galaxy S8. This isn’t the first time Samsung has teamed up with Hollywood to recreate special-edition versions of its smartphones. In past years it did the same for Iron Man and Injustice: Gods Among Us, for instance. It’s obviously trying to target die-hard movie fans with these decorated handsets.

However, unlike previous special editions launched by Samsung, the Pirates of the Caribbean model looks just like the regular Galaxy S8. It’s only been loaded with a Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales theme. It’s also packed in a retail box styled to look like a treasure box and features the Pirates of the Caribbean logo (inside, there’s a ring fob and a case with the same logo.)

• Samsung Notebook 9 Pro: Flip screened laptop with built-in S Pen
• What is Samsung Connect Home and how does it work?

The phone, which costs about $880/£680, is plain black and comes with the standard 4GB of RAM and 64GB memory. As far as other specs and features, they’re the same as the regular Samsung Galaxy S8. If you’re interested in this device, or more specifically, its Pirates of the Caribbean-themed booty, you’ll have to head over to China, where it remains an exclusive for a limited time.

It’s also available now on the Chinese retailer JD.com.

Alphabet’s Waymo moves on from cars, now testing self-driving trucks

Waymo is getting into trucks now.

Waymo is a self-driving car company that Alphabet spun off from Google. You can read all about Waymo in our in-depth guide here. The company has been building on software and sensor technology originally developed in Google’s secret labs since 2009 and is currently refining that technology through billion of miles of simulated tests, which, apparently, will soon include trucks.

Waymo is testing its own autonomous truck technology, according to BuzzFeed News, which saw the autonomous truck in a photo and then confirmed the project with Waymo. A Waymo spokesperson said it’s taken eight years of building self-driving hardware and software to get to this point. Waymo’s conducting a “technical exploration” into how its technology can integrate into a truck.

The spokesperson explained that Waymo aims to reduce the “thousands of trucking-related deaths each year.” Keep in mind Uber, which purchased trucking startup Otto last year, is already testing shipment deliveries with its own self-driving freights, whereas Waymo has only just begun testing one vehicle. It’s even still manually driving it on a public road in order to collect data.

• Volvo and Audi will use Android as the base OS of its upcoming cars
• Honda Clarity Fuel Cell preview: Driving the future of hydrogen?
• Nissan put a phone signal blocker in this car so you can’t text and drive

Google has long said that is it interested in tackling self-driving technology in an effort to stem the loss of lives attributed to car accidents. Over 1.2 million people die on roadways. In the US alone, traffic collisions kill over 35,000 people a year. Ninety-four percent of those crashes involve human error or choice, but self-driving tech could make transportation easy and safe for all.

In October 2015, Waymo completed the world’s first fully self-driving ride on public roads. You can watch a video of that here.

Sprint and Rogers connect for iMessage-like RCS texting

Nearly every major tech company has come up with their own messaging services with enhanced features and SMS is starting to look long in the tooth. But there’s hope for text messaging. A newish standard (it was released in 2012) RCS (Rich Communication Services (RCS) with its improved media sending and improved group chat support is making its way onto Android phones and being support by carriers and according to Google’s VP of communications products, Nick Fox. It looks like Sprint and Rogers are letting customers send RCS messages between their services.

First ever cross-carrier RCS interconnect in N Amer is live! Now Sprint and Rogers users can message each other over RCS. Many more to come!

— Nick Fox (@RealNickFox) June 1, 2017

RCS became standard on all Android phones this year which is good news for Sprint customers since the carrier supports the standard. But for the service to really take off it needs support from all the major carriers so that texts sent between services work just as well as those sent on the same network. Today’s news is the first time two North American carriers are interconnected.

Source: Nick Fox

Apple Music Marketing Exec Bozoma Saint John to Leave Company

Bozoma Saint John, Apple Music and iTunes head of Global Consumer Marketing, is planning to leave the company, reports Axios.

Saint John, also known as “Boz,” joined Apple when the company acquired Beats Music in 2014. She came into the public spotlight at the 2016 Worldwide Developers Conference, where she demonstrated new Apple Music features on stage.

Since then, Saint John has spoken at Fortune’s Most Powerful Women Summit, starred in an Apple Music ad alongside Eddy Cue, Jimmy Iovine, and James Corden, and represented Apple Music in interviews along with Larry Jackson and Zane Lowe.

It is not clear where Saint John, who formerly worked at Pepsi, will be heading after she leaves Apple. Her reason for leaving is also unclear, with Apple declining to comment on the news.
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MSI Radeon RX 550 Aero ITX review

Research Center:
MSI Radeon RX 550 Aero ITX

As professional gaming swells from a joke to a serious, international business, hardware companies have found ways to appeal to this new breed of gamer. One example is the eSports-focused video card, intended to play games like League of Legends or Overwatch at decent framerates without breaking the bank.

Of course, what games qualify as eSports titles, and how much power they need, varies greatly, and these low-budget cards tend to only address part of the professional gaming market. At just $85, the MSI Aero ITX version of the Radeon RX 550 may fall dangerously close to this peril. Is AMD’s new entry-level graphics solution right in the sweet spot for budget gaming, or too slow for its own good?

Under the (tiny) hood

Before digging into performance, let’s take a look under the Radeon RX 550’s hood. The reference design draws just 50 Watts of power, with 8 Compute Units and 512 Stream Processors, with up to 4GB of GDDR5, depending on the board partner. AMD states a 1,100MHz base clock and 1,138MHz boost clock, but again, that will vary based on card and cooling options.

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Bill Roberson/Digital Trends

Our review unit is an MSI Aero ITX version, with a simple, short cooler and no external power demands. There are no reference models this time around, and most other AIB partner models will have one fan and similar power requirements. MSI bumped the maximum boost clock up to 1,203MHz — not too shabby, considering this particular model end of the Radeon RX 550’s price spectrum. It only has 2GB of GDDR5, which we think is the right choice for a video card in this price bracket. However, a 4GB model is available for $100, too.

Like a lot of cards its size, this version of the Radeon RX 550 only has a single HDMI port, a single DisplayPort, and a lone DVI-D. Those ports give users options, but only for one screen. Multi-monitor setups can be a bit tricky without two of the same port.

Performance

With the boring stuff out of the way, let’s dig right into our performance testing. We benchmarked the Radeon RX 550 on our high-end test rig with an Intel Core i7-6950X, 16GB of RAM, and an Intel 700 Series SSD. It’s certainly overkill for the card, but we have a wealth of test data for it, and it should allow every graphics solution to reach its full potential, unencumbered by potential bottlenecks.

Even in our synthetic testing, things don’t look good for the Radeon RX 550. It’s almost 50 percent slower than the GTX 1050 we last reviewed, which was also an MSI offering. The GTX 1050 sports a slightly higher 75W TDP, but it’s able to draw enough power from the board, so the difference isn’t likely to have an effect on overall system capabilities.

Ouch. The Radeon RX 550 continues to fall well behind the GTX 1050, and that’s a serious problem. While the GTX 1050 is a bit more expensive, the cards are already in a precarious position market-wise, and they don’t come close to producing playable framerates at 1080p in modern games.

Yes, it’s true the RX 550 will run Counter-Strike or League of Legends without issue, but that’s true of any video card. Most gamers are not going to want to stick to just one game. And some modern competitive titles, like Overwatch, can be demanding.

MSI Radeon RX 550 Aero ITX Compared To

Asus Strix Radeon RX 570 OC 4G

MSI GeForce GTX 1080 Ti Armor 11G OC

MSI GeForce GTX 1050 2G OC

AMD Radeon RX 480

AMD Radeon R9 380X

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 950

Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan X

Nvidia GeForce GTX 980

AMD Radeon R9 295X2

NVIDIA DualTV MCE

ATI All-In-Wonder X1900

MSI RX800 XT

MSI GeForce FX5700-VT2DR256

ATI Radeon 9800 XT 256MB

ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9800 Pro

Value is also an issue. As you can see, the RX 550 is demolished even by the GTX 1050. A more serious card like the RX 570 will prove several times quicker in many games. Yes, it’s more expensive, but you’re getting more FPS per dollar.

Warranty information

MSI covers all of its graphics solutions for a full three years from manufacturer defects and issues. That’s a premium warranty for a GPU at any price, with most OEMs just offering a one year warranty.

Our Take

The least expensive Radeon in the RX 500 series may be affordable, but you get what you pay for. Our MSI Aero ITX review unit was unable to keep up a 60 FPS average at 1080p in any of our modern games, even with the settings turned down to medium. It’s a card meant for casual MOBA players, or the odd Rocket League match on the couch, and that’s about it.

Is there a better alternative?

Yes. With settings at modest levels, the GTX 1050 comes a lot closer to our ideal scores in more games, and iterations are frequently available under $100. MSI’s GTX 1050, with a similar cooler, was on sale for $85, the same as the Radeon RX 550, at time of this writing. Even when it’s not on sale, the added performance is well worth another $20.

How long will it last?

While the movement to higher resolution panels than 1080p has been more of a crawl than we expected, no card at this price is going to set you up for gaming, even at the current standard. You’re trading a lot of performance to save some dollars and keep from upgrading your power supply, and it really shows when it comes to longevity.

Should you buy it?

No. The Radeon RX 550 tries to strike at a niche market, and doesn’t manage to do it better than cards at exactly the same price. Users shouldn’t head into a sub-$100 GPU hoping to play brand new titles at smooth frame rates, and that’s doubly true here. If that’s all you have to spend, the GTX 1050 is just a better choice.

How to enable Alexa Calling and messaging with Amazon’s Alexa

Google may have upstaged Amazon with the introduction of voice calling for Google Home, but the Echo isn’t without messaging tricks of its own. Alexa Calling & Messaging, which debuted earlier this year, lets you exchange memos between any two Echo devices, including the original Echo, Dot, and Tap. It works regardless of the distance between them — Amazon delivers messages between speakers on opposing continents the same way it delivers them to devices on the same Wi-Fi network. Better yet, they’re always free.

Alexa’s calling features include Skype-like conferencing and automatic transcription and recording, and message recipients get the speech-to-text message readouts via the Alexa app for iOS and Android devices. However, some of these features take some time to get the hang of. Here’s everything you need to know to get started with Alexa Calling & Messaging.

How to enable Calling & Messaging

Amazon Calling & Messaging has a few prerequisites. First, you’ll need an Amazon Echo speaker — the original Echo or the Dot — along with an iOS device (running version 9.0 or higher) or an Android device (running Android 5.0 or higher). You’ll also need a valid phone number. Once you’ve checked those boxes, though, it’s relatively smooth sailing.

If you haven’t already, download the Alexa app for iOS or Android. If you’re setting up an Echo speaker for the first time, follow the app’s step-by-step instructions to connect your Echo speaker to your Wi-Fi network, update its firmware, and enable features like Bluetooth.

After that’s taken care of, you can get started with Alexa Calling:

• Open the Alexa app, and tap the speech bubble icon at the bottom of the screen.
• Here, you’ll see a welcome screen. Tap the Get Started button.
• Select your name from the list on the following screen. Then, hit the Continue button.
• You’ll be asked to grant Alexa permission to access your phone’s contacts. Tap Allow to continue.
• The Alexa app will prompt you to verify your phone number. Enter it, and then wait for the verification code. Paste the code in the corresponding text field and hit the Continue button.

That’s it! You’ve successfully set up Alexa Calling & Messaging.

How to send a voice message from the Alexa app

Enabling calls and messages on your Echo devices is half the battle. Now, you have to learn how to use them.

You can’t call just anyone. Unlike voice calls with Google Home, which can reach any landline or mobile phone, Alexa Calling & Messaging only works with other Amazon speakers. In addition, Echo owners who haven’t configured it aren’t reachable.

Assuming at least one or two people in your phone’s contact list have a call-enabled Echo, here’s how to get started.

• Open the Alexa app, and tap the speech bubble at the bottom of the screen. This will bring up the Conversations screen.
• Tap the person-shaped outline in the upper-right corner of the screen, and choose a person from the resulting list of contacts.
• Tap the message bubble, which will bring up a conversation page with that contact. Then, hit the blue microphone icon to record a voice message. You can also tap the keyboard button to type out a memo.

When your contact receives your message, they’ll hear a chime and the LED ring around the top of their Echo speaker will take on a green glow. If they have the Alexa app installed on their smartphone, they’ll also receive a notification simultaneously, and they’ll be able to view, play, and respond to your message from within the app’s Conversation screen.

How to start a call from the Alexa app

Once you’ve mastered the basics of sending messages to other Echo devices, placing a call should be a snap.

Here’s how to call someone with the Alexa app:

• Open the Alexa app and tap the speech bubble at the bottom of the screen. This brings up the Conversations screen.
• Tap the person-shaped outline in the upper-right corner of the screen, and choose a person from the resulting list of contacts.
• Tap the phone icon, which will initiate the call. It’s a little like Skype — the Alexa app uses your phone’s microphone and speakers to route voice data over a Wi-Fi or cellular connection, and your voice comes through via the recipient’s Echo.

If you receive another call while you’re on a call, the incoming call will go to a different Echo device that supposed calls and messages.

How to send a voice message from an Echo

Sending a message from an Echo device is even simpler than sending one from the Alexa app.

• First, make sure the message’s intended recipient has enabled Alexa Calling & Messaging by opening the Alexa app, heading to the Conversations screen, and tapping the person-shaped outline in the upper-right corner of the screen. If the person has enabled calls and messages, you’ll see their name on the resulting list.
• Now say, “Alexa, send a message to [your contact’s name here].”

Alexa will then prompt you for your message. Say what you’d like to send, and that’s it! Amazon will take care of the rest.

To listen to an incoming message on an Echo speaker, simply say, “Alexa, play the message.” You’ll then hear the newest, unread message in your inbox.

How to start a call from an Echo speaker

Making a call from an Echo speaker is just as easy as sending a message.

• First, make sure the message’s intended recipient has enabled Alexa Calling & Messaging by opening the Alexa app, heading to the Conversations screen, and tapping the person-shaped outline in the upper-right corner of the screen. If the person has enabled calls and messages, you’ll see their name on the resulting list.
• Now say, “Alexa, call [your contact’s name here].” You’ll be connected as soon as your partner answers.

To answer an incoming call on an Echo speaker, simply say, “Alexa, answer the call. To end the same call, say, “Alexa, Hang up.” If you get another call while you’re on a call, the incoming call will go to a different Echo device that supports calls and messages.

How to disable Calling & Messaging

There’s a potential privacy issue with Amazon’s Calling & Messaging. As of right now, you can’t block incoming calls. Imagine if a telemarketer finds out how to contact you through your speaker. To disable the feature once you’ve enabled, it, you’ll have to call the helpline at 1-877-375-9365 or to the Contact Us page, choose Amazon Devices > your Echo name > Echo Devices. Under “Select issue details,” choose Something Else, then under “How Would You Like To Contact Us,” select Phone. An Amazon employee will call you.

Here are 6 jumbo jets that look tiny next to Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch plane

It appears as though simply owning not one but two professional sports teams, and one of the world’s largest yachts was simply not enough to quench the thirst of Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. The billionaire entrepreneur first announced plans for the largest aircraft on earth — the Stratolaunch — in 2011, and after a few minor delays, Stratolaunch Systems has finally revealed the beastly bird. The company has some rather lofty ambitions for the project down the road. Eventually, Allen and company want the Stratolaunch to soar to low Earth orbit where it can launch a Orbital ATK’s Pegasus XL rocket into space. The rocket itself will be capable of carrying smaller satellites into orbit. As the system advances, Stratolaunch Systems hopes to one day send manned missions to orbit.

The Stratolaunch didn’t take flight at the unveiling, but the airplane certainly has some fairly impressive design specifications. The craft touts a sprawling 385 foot wingspan and uses six 747 jet engines for thrust. Fully fueled, the Stratolaunch tips the scales at 750,000 pounds and requires nearly 12,000 feet of runway for takeoff. But how does the aircraft size up to some of the largest aircraft in aviation history?

Hughes H-4 Hercules

You cannot curate a list about enormous aircraft without mentioning eccentric aviation pioneer Howard Hughes’ H-4 Hercules. This 400,000-pound flying boat held the record for widest wingspan (319 feet) prior to the Stratolaunch unveiling. Due to wartime material shortages, wood was substituted for metal in its construction leading to the nickname “The Spruce Goose.”

Antonov An-225

Weighing in at a not-so-svelte 640 tons, the Antonov An-225 is the heaviest aircraft in the world. The aircraft was originally designed in the the 1980s to carry the Buran, the Soviet-equivalent of the space shuttle, on its back. The bird itself is powered by six turbofan jets that pump out nearly 52,000 pounds of thrust each. This allows the Antonov An-225 to carry twice as much cargo as a Boeing 747 freighter. As the vehicle approaches the landing strip, it readies its hefty 32-wheel landing gear for touchdown.

Lockheed C-5 Galaxy

With a 222 feet wingspan and nearly 250 feet in length, the C-5 Galaxy has remained one of the largest aircrafts in the world ever since its maiden flight in 1968. The C-5 was designed to deliver a fully equipped combat-ready military unit anywhere on earth on short notice.

Airbus A380-800

The Airbus A380 is the largest passenger aircraft ever made. The aircraft was also the first jet airliner to incorporate two full-length passenger decks inside. The A380 can accommodate up to 525 individuals, surpassing the maximum capacity of the Boeing 747 by 100. With a wingspan of 262 feet and nearly 240 feet in length, this behemoth still pales in comparison to the Stratolaunch.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

As its name would suggest, the B-29 Superfortress was an airborne battle station used by the United States throughout World War II and the Korean War. The aircraft was outfitted with 12 machine guns as well as a 20 millimeter cannon to fend off enemy warplanes. Due to the required increases in both range and bomb load, the B-29 was once the world’s heaviest production aircraft. The last operational B-29 was retired in 1960.

Air Force One

For all semantic purposes, the term “Air Force One” is used to describe any Air Force aircraft transporting the President of the United States — so it’s not really designated to any one plane. Currently, two tricked-out 747-200s serve as the official presidential Air Force One fleet. Inside, there is more than 4,000 square feet of floor space (spread across three levels), including a conference room, a suite, a medical facility, and a galley capable of feeding up to 100 people at a time. The current Air Force One model has a maximum takeoff weight of 833,000 pounds. The next Air Force One model — a modified 747-800 — will increase this capacity to nearly one million pounds.

This lake-hopping drone lands on water, then sunbathes to recharge

Why it matters to you

Short flight time is a problem for just about every drone. The innovative SUWAVE drone solves it in a unique way.

The University of Sherbrooke’s SUWAVE drone (short for Sherbrooke University Water-Air Vehicle) is not like most unmanned aerial vehicles you have come across before — but it may well solve one of their biggest problems. Provided you have the right natural surroundings, that is!

That is because SUWAVE is a lake-hopping drone that is designed to fly short distances, crash down into a body of water, recharge using solar panels built into its fixed wings, and then take off again. The result is a flying machine that, at least in theory, can have a flight time that is extended indefinitely to days, weeks, or even months.

“In Canada, lakes represent convenient landing spots,” Professor Alexis Desbiens told Digital Trends. “Their location is known and they are usually free of obstacles — [meaning there’s] no need for heavy or complex landing sensors that are difficult to integrate on small UAVs. A drone that could take advantage of lakes as a standby and recharge station could travel long distances or monitor a site of interest for an extended period of time. We calculated that such drone, limited to short continuous flights could travel across Canada by hopping from lake to lake.”

The drone’s novel takeoff and landing strategies were inspired by the Mallard duck and the gannet seabird. Although the idea of landing by crashing sounds like the recipe for a short-lived drone, a clever design means that the 584-gram flying machine is only ever subjected to around 15 Gs of deceleration, which it is perfectly capable of handling. It is also waterproof, something that is helpful for a drone likely to spend large parts of its life sitting in lakes.

When it comes to specific uses for the UAV, Desbiens has a few ideas. “A swarm of SUWAVE drones could relay each other to continuously monitor a forest fire,” he said. “This drone could also be used in environmental research to fetch water sample from faraway lakes.”

Currently, the team has developed the concept and performed a few flights with it. “We are now integrating solar panels and are intending to demonstrate lake-to-lake travel and multi-day missions during the summer,” Desbiens said. “Various scenarios will be tested to evaluate its potential for commercialization.”

The Augmented World Expo proves AR isn’t ready for prime time, but it’s still pretty cool

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are largely considered to be the next major computing platforms. AR might even one day replace the smartphone as the principle way in how we interact with our digital lives. But we’re not there yet. In fact, we’re a long way off,at least from a consumer perspective.

At the Augmented World Expo (AWE) in Santa Clara, VR and AR companies showed off their latest and greatest products. Despite the numerous gadgets, and the huge growth we’ve seen from AWE since last year, our major takeaway is unfortunately a little pessimistic. It looks like AR isn’t going to hit mainstream audiences for quite some time. But there are plenty of groundbreaking AR and VR technologies that keep the field exciting, many of which made appearances at the show. Let’s take a look.

Kopin’s tiny new VR headset

The point of mixed reality is enhancing what we already have — and that’s not going to happen until display technology is good enough to blend into the real world. That’s to say, ultimately, if your futuristic smart glasses project an image of a chair in front of you, you shouldn’t be able to tell the difference between that chair and one in the real world.

Now, better display technology for AR is more than just a higher resolution — though a higher resolution certainly plays a role. Kopin, a display technology company founded in 1999, is pushing the boundaries in improving the resolution of head-mounted displays, and showed off its latest innovations in its Elf VR headset, which features two 2,048 x 2,048-resolution panels operating at a refresh rate of 120Hz.

That provides visual fidelity well beyond current headsets, but what’s most remarkable is how small the headset is — much smaller than the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. And while it’s only a reference design for customers who may want to buy Kopin’s display technology, the design offers hope that better-resolution displays are on the way, and could soon be implemented into next-generation headsets.

Massless’ stylus for virtual reality

Massless also debuted its first product at the show — a stylus that connects to a headset and allows the user to draw in 3D space. The goal of the device, which is called the Massless Pen, is ultra-precision — so much so that the company refuses to implement buttons on the pen because of the fact that pressing buttons causes the tip of the pen to move slightly.

“I don’t believe in having buttons on the Pen,” said Massless founder Jack Cohen in an interview with Digital Trends. “We are designing this for precision.”

The Massless Pen can be pre-ordered from the Massless website.

Zappar is democratizing AR

While AR technology is slowly but surely improving, it’s largely still irrelevant to the average consumer. One company, however is hoping to change that by doing for AR what Google Cardboard did for VR. The company is Zappar, and it actually launched on Kickstarter at the end of last year, raking in a hefty $84,356 — far more than its $30,000 funding goal.

ZapBox is an affordable yet effective way to experience AR. The package comes in at $30, and includes a cardboard headset with a slot for your phone’s camera, as well as an attachable lens adapter that basically increases the field-of-view of the camera, which is an important thing to note. It also comes with two controllers built from Cardboard, which the software can recognize as long as the controllers are in the view of the camera.

Obviously you’re not going to get the Microsoft HoloLens in a $30 package, but as we noted in our test of the product last year, it has potential. It will certainly be interesting to see if it can help bring AR into the mainstream. The company is even offering tools to help developers build AR experiences.

“Zapworks has been available for a couple of years now, and that’s the toolset that we’re using in-house to build all of the experiences that we’re demoing,” said Simon Taylor from Zappar in an interview with Digital Trends. “And that allows third-parties to do exactly the same thing. The main reason we built out own platform is because we wanted a single app to be able to explore content from everyone.”

3DiVi is bringing Microsoft Kinect to VR

The Microsoft Kinect was an excellent way to interact with the Xbox, but the applications actually range far wider than just that gaming console. One company is taking the idea of the Kinect, and bringing it to the AR and VR space. That company is 3DiVi, and it has a built-in camera designed for motion tracking, called the VicoVR.

The camera is built largely for VR, and it can offer tracking on par with the HTC Vive, but at around half the price. While 3DiVi has built a range of games and apps for it, the company is also working with developers, and even building systems for medical use.

“We have our own games, but we do have an SDK available. It’s open-source, so if someone is interested in developing they can do that,” said Goretti Campbell, a spokesperson for 3DiVi, in an interview with Digital Trends. “Something else that we’ve done is that we’ve partnered with Everment and we’re doing things with them in the medical field.”

You can buy the VicoVR camera from the VicoVR website, and it comes at $399 for the “Game Edition,” or $499 for the “Maker Edition.”

Conclusions

Augmented reality is a long way off from being consumer-ready, but it’s clear that there’s a lot of work going on behind the scenes. Augmented World Expo is bigger every year — and in five years time it could be a totally different show. Until then, well, we’ll just have to settle for these cool-yet-niche advancements.