Nintendo swears the SNES Classic won’t sell out so quickly

Nintendo’s sales strategy for the NES Classic Edition was frustrating, to put it mildly. It shipped so few systems that they sold out almost immediately, and killed the product despite loads of pent-up demand. Will it learn from its mistakes now that the SNES Classic is on its way? Apparently, the answer is yes… maybe. The gaming giant has put out a statement (you can read it below) promising that it’ll ship “significantly more” SNES Classics than it did last year’s retro console. It’s not divulging numbers (that would be spilling trade secrets), but this suggests you might not have to pre-order right away to bring one home. However, you probably don’t want to get your hopes up just yet.

The company adds that it’s currently planning to ship the SNES Classic only between its September 29th launch and the end of 2017 — there’s “nothing to announce” about shipments in 2018. This doesn’t rule out further production runs, but it risks creating a frenzy as people buy either out of panic or to flip systems on eBay for a tidy profit.

And while it’s understandable that Nintendo wouldn’t provide shipping numbers, the lack of concrete info isn’t very reassuring. Will Nintendo accurately forecast demand, or will this just delay shortages for a hot minute? Based on early buzz, the SNES Classic is already poised to sell like hotcakes — unless there’s a truly huge increase in production, there’s no guarantee that you’ll get one just by waltzing into a store on release day.

At least the machine itself will tackle some problems from last year. Nintendo says the SNES Classic’s controllers will use 5-foot cables, or a full 2 feet longer than what you saw with its NES predecessor. You might not have to buy extenders (or sit right in front of your TV) to indulge your nostalgic side.

“We aren’t providing specific numbers, but we will produce significantly more units of Super NES Classic Edition than we did of NES Classic Edition.

“Super Nintendo Entertainment System: Super NES Classic Edition is currently planned to ship from Sept. 29 until the end of calendar year 2017. At this time, we have nothing to announce regarding any possible shipments beyond this year.”

Source: Time

iOS 11 preview: Full of promise, especially on bigger screens

As always, Apple spent a considerable chunk of WWDC earlier this month hyping up iOS 11 and all of the new features it brings. Now it’s your turn to take them for a spin. The first public release of the iOS 11 beta goes live today for people participating in Apple’s testing program, and we’ve been playing with it for a few days to get a better sense of what it has to offer. Long story short, it’s already shaping up to be a very valuable, very comprehensive release.

In order to find out for yourself, you’ll need the right hardware: an iPhone 5s or newer, an iPad mini 2 or newer or a sixth-generation iPod touch. Before you replace your iVessel’s perfectly functional software with something that’s still months away from being ready, keep reading for a primer on what to expect.

But first…

Before we go any further, here’s the usual disclaimer: This software, while mostly functional, is a long way from being finished. Over the past few days of testing, I’ve seen my share of lock-ups, app crashes and overall funkiness. (As I write this, my iPhone’s “home row” has disappeared and I can’t figure out how to get it back.)

Since we’ve had a limited time with this preview, we haven’t been able to test all of the updates it contains either. Even though I work for Engadget, my home resembles that of a Luddite, so I didn’t have much of a need for the updated Home app. And since my car is relatively ancient, CarPlay was also a no-go. Meanwhile, other things just weren’t ready for prime time, including multi-room support in AirPlay 2 and the ability to send cash to friends via iMessage. And while we’re starting to see some really neat augmented reality tricks made with ARKit, none of those are available in the App Store yet. Long story short, just make sure you know what you’re getting into before you agree to the install.

Familiar, but different

The iOS aesthetic has undergone some major changes over the years, but that’s not really the case here if you’re using an iPhone. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find a difference until you swipe up in search of that flashlight. The iOS Control Center no longer looks like a handful of pages with quick options; it’s a more condensed cluster of buttons and controls that you can finally customize. I appreciate Apple squeezing all of this functionality into one place; it generally works well, and if your iOS device supports 3D Touch, you can press on these icons to access more controls. That said, I’ve already screwed up my screen brightness while trying to close Control Center maybe a thousand times, and I’m not sure I love the look either.

You can also view all your recent notifications from the home screen just by swiping up from your lock screen, which is nice if you need to get caught up on things quickly. That said, if you’re a digital pack rat (like me) and never clear your notifications, this is a great way to see iOS lag.

You’ll also see a big focus on big text: It’s meant to be clear and visually punchy, but if you didn’t like the Apple Music redesign, you’re probably not going to like this either. That bold approach is used everywhere to some extent, from the Messages app to your list of albums in Photos. The best new example, however, is the revamped App Store. It’s not just a place with lists of apps (though those still exist) — it’s more curated, and there’s a strong editorial bent. Featured apps get miniature articles (crafted with help from the developers), lots of big imagery, and more video to help explain what makes them so special. It kind of feels like Apple squeezed a teensy blog into the App Store.

And for the first time, games and apps are kept separate from one another. Sifting through these distinct lists is definitely more convenient than before, but it mostly benefits developers. With these lists now separate, apps won’t get pushed down in the Top Paid and Free lists by whatever the buzzy game of the moment is.

Intelligence everywhere

Apple’s pushing the concept of “intelligence” really hard with this release. With Core ML, developers will be able to weave machine learning features into their apps, and hopefully make them more responsive to our desires and behaviors. Too bad none of those apps are ready yet. There’s still one concrete example of Apple’s pronounced focus on intelligence here, though: Siri.

For one, it sounds profoundly more natural than before. There are still small tells that you’re talking to a collection of algorithms, but the line between listening to Siri and listening to an actual person is growing strangely thin. (You’ll notice the improved voice in other places too, like when Apple Maps is giving you directions.) Hell, Siri even sounds good when you ask it to translate something you’ve just said in English into Spanish, French, German or Chinese.

It’s also able to act on more unorthodox requests like “play me something sad,” which happens to launch a playlist called “Tearjerkers.” And if you’re tired of hearing Siri altogether, you can now type queries and commands to it instead. Unfortunately, you’ll have to disable the ability to talk to Siri in the process. Ideally, Apple wouldn’t be so binary about this, but there’s at least one workaround. Worst case scenario, you can enable dictation for the keyboard, tap the button and start chatting with it.

If some of this sounds familiar, that’s because Siri actually has a lot in common with Google Assistant. While the feature gap between the two assistants is closing, Google is still better for answering general-purpose questions. Apple’s working on it, though. The company says Siri now pulls more answers from Wikipedia, which may be true, but you’ll still just get search results most of the time.

More importantly, the underlying intelligence that makes Siri work has been woven into other apps. Siri can help suggest stories you might be interested in inside the News app, and if you register for an event within Safari, Siri will add it to your calendar.

Getting social

Sometimes I wonder why Apple doesn’t just go all out and create its own social media service. Then I remember it did. It was called Ping and it flopped hard. So it’s a little worrying to see Apple bake a stronger social element into Apple Music could. At least the company’s approach this time is based on delivering features people actually use. In addition to creating a profile (which only partially mattered before), you can now share your playlists and follow other users. Sound familiar? Well, it would if you were a Spotify user. Apple’s attempts to stack up more favorably against major social services doesn’t end here, either.

With the addition of new features, iMessage has become an even more competent competitor to apps like Line and Facebook Messenger. You want stickers and stuff? Apple made it easier to skim through all of your installed iMessage apps, so you can send bizarro visuals to your friends quickly. You’ll get a handful of new, full-screen iMessage effects for good measure, and it’s not hard to see how the newfound ability to send money through iMessage itself could put a dent in Venmo’s fortunes. (Again, this feature doesn’t work in this build, so don’t bother trying to pay your friends back via text.)

And then there’s the most social tool of all: the camera app. The all-too-popular Portrait mode has apparently been improved, though I’ve been hard-pressed to tell the difference. (It’ll officially graduate from beta when iOS 11 launches later this year.) You’ll also find some new filters, but the most fun additions are some Live photo modes. You can make the tiny video clip associated with a live photo loop, or reverse itself, or even blur to imitate a long exposure. Just know this: If you try to send these new live photos to anyone not on iOS 11, they just get a standard live photo.

The iPad experience

The new update brings welcome changes to iPhones, but it completely overhauls the way iPads work. This is a very good thing. Thanks in large part to the dock, which acts similar to the one in macOS, they’re much better multitaskers. You can pull up the dock while using any other app to either switch what you’re doing, or get two apps running next to each other.

Just drag an app from the dock into the main part of the screen and it’ll start running in a thin, phone-like window. Most apps I’ve tested work just fine in this smaller configuration since they’re meant to scale across different-sized displays. And you can move these windows apps around as needed. To get them running truly side by side, just swipe down — that locks them into the Split View we’ve had since iOS 9.

Having those apps next to each means you can drag and drop images, links or text from one window into the other. This feels like a revelation compared to having to copy and paste, or saving an image to your camera roll so you could insert it somewhere else. Now it just needs more buy-in from developers. Literally all I want to do sometimes is drag a photo from the new Files app into Slack to share it, but that’s just not possible yet.

Oh right, there’s a Files app now. It’s another one of those things that do what the name implies: You can manage stuff you’ve saved directly on your iPad, along with other services like Dropbox and Google Drive. Those third-party integrations are sort of theoretical right now, though: Dropbox sync isn’t ready yet, and navigating your Google Drive doesn’t really work the way it’s supposed to. It’s a great idea in concept, and I can’t wait to try it when it actually works.

When you’re done dragging and dropping, one upward swipe on the dock launches the new multitasking view. The most annoying part of this new workflow isn’t how your recent apps are laid out as a grid instead of the usual cards. No, it’s that you can’t just swipe up on those cards to close an app like you used to; you have to long press the card and hit a tiny X to do that. I get that it’s more akin to the way you delete apps, but the original gesture was so much more intuitive and elegant. Otherwise, sifting through open apps to pick up where you left off is a breeze.

That said, it’s odd to see the Control Center to the right of those app windows. Having all these extra control toggles shoved into the side of the screen looks kind of lousy to me, but don’t expect that to change anytime soon. Thankfully, there’s no shortage of thoughtful touches on display here. Consider the new on-screen keyboard: Instead of tapping a button to switch layouts for punctuation and numbers, you can just swipe down on a key to invoke the alternate character. I still haven’t gotten completely used to it, but I’m much faster than I was on day one. Hopefully, your muscle memory resets more easily than mine. The Notes app has also been updated with the ability to scan documents on the fly, which has already made my life easier when I’m filing work expenses.

And don’t forget about the Apple Pencil. It was always kind of a hassle going through multiple steps before I started writing a note — you had to unlock the iPad, open Notes and tap a button to enable pen input. Now, I can just tap the lock screen with my Pencil and I’m already writing. Longtime readers probably know my handwriting sucks, but it’s generally clean enough for iOS to parse it, so I can search for things I’ve written straight from Spotlight. Tapping a result brings up my note, and even in its unfinished state, it’s honestly a little crazy how fast Apple’s handwriting interpretation works. Then again, Apple is pushing on-device machine learning processes like this in a big way, so if we’re lucky, behavior like this will be the rule, not the exception.

These are all valuable improvements, and I’m sure I’ll wind up using these features a lot. At this point, though, I still wouldn’t choose an iPad over a traditional notebook or convertible as my primary machine. The situation will improve as more app developers embed support for all these features into their software, but the foundation still doesn’t seem to be as flexible as I need.

The little things

As always, there are lots of little changes baked into these releases that don’t require a ton of words. Let’s see…

• There’s a handy one-handed keyboard in iOS 11, but it’s disabled by default. I have no idea why.
• When you’re on a FaceTime call, you can now take a screenshot of what you’re seeing without that pesky box with your face in it.
• Do Not Disturb While Driving is good at knowing when you’re using an iPhone in a car — just be sure to add a toggle for it in the Control Center for when you’re a passenger.
• It’s basically impossible to miss when an app starts using your location: You’ll see a blue banner at the top of the screen telling you as much.

Even in its unfinished state, iOS 11 seems promising, especially for iPad users. I’ve always maintained that iOS 10 was a release meant to weave Apple’s sometimes disparate features and services into a platform that felt more whole. It was maybe a little unglamorous, but it was necessary. When iOS 11 launches in the fall, we’ll be able to get a better sense of its character and value.

Google officially kills Gchat in favor of Hangouts

Google Talk, also known as Gchat, has officially been put out to pasture and replaced with Hangouts. The tech giant has been threatening to do so since March, so you’ve only yourself to blame for holding on to an internet messaging services from days gone by.

Really, what were you holding on to, stalwart Gchatters? A legacy messaging interface from a service launched in August 2005 that’s almost as old as this site? Why have blocky message windows when Hangouts’ round chat bubbles match today’s vogue?

Of course, Hangouts is slowly being sidelined itself — at least in the consumer sphere. As recently as March, Google pushed new Hangouts features aimed at enterprise clients as it continues to aim its AI-powered Allo and Duo chat services at non-commercial users. For a company that can’t seem to stop making messaging apps, at least sending Gchat to the glue factory will free up some space for its current slate to specialize their services.

Source: The Verge

Amazon is turning every Echo device into an intercom

If you’ve got multiple Amazon Echo devices throughout your home, you’ll soon be able to use them as a connected intercom. Amazon just launched the feature today across the original Echo, Echo Dot and its new screen-toting Echo Show. We heard last month that the intercom capability was in the works, and it seemed like a given once Amazon brought hands-free calling and messaging across the Echo family. The company is rolling out the feature over the next few days, but be sure to update your Alexa app to access it.

We haven’t had a chance to test out the intercom feature yet, but it seems pretty straightforward. You just have to name your Echo devices by room and enable the “drop-in” feature in the Alexa App. After that, you can tell Alexa to call or drop in to a specific Echo device. Even better, you can also use the intercom feature when you’re away from home through the Alexa app.

While the idea of a home intercom might seem a bit antiquated in our hyperconnected lives, it makes sense for the Echo devices. Many Echo owners end up buying multiple devices, and it’s not that difficult for Amazon to add room-to-room communication. And, most importantly, it cements the Echo family as something essential to your daily life.

Google gives students interactive tools for STEM and internet safety

Google launched a new browser-based Google Earth this past April, adding educational tools to make it easier for teachers to show the world off to students without having to leave the classroom. The company also collaborated with the BBC to create a digital storytelling platform called Voyager that helps curate the discovery of various places of interest around the globe. Google is taking things even farther today at the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) conference, announcing a bevy of new tools and virtual experiences to empower students.

The concept here is to help students become critical thinkers and responsible digital citizens as they explore the world around them. Google announced 10 new stories for its Voyager platform in collaboration with National Geographic Society and PBS Education. These new experiences come with additional classroom activities to let teachers help guide their students, and school IT administrators can add Google Earth as a service within their own Google for Education domains.

The team also promises a new self-guided mode, coming “soon,” for the more than 600 currently available virtual field trips via the Expeditions app. A new digital citizenship and safety program called “Be Internet Awesome” is also available to kids. It includes resources for students, educators and families to help kids make smart decisions online. Schools can also purchase a collection of STEM tools for Chromebooks, including a Dremel 3D printer and the littleBits Code Kit, which can be used to help kids become inventors.

Finally, Google is sharing some data around the impact it’s having in schools that use Chromebooks and G Suite with seven new “Impact Portraits” from schools around the US. “In the Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township, for example,” Google says in the blog post, “Indiana’s measure of third-grade reading skills has grown by 10% since adopting Chromebooks.”

Source: Google

Here’s what Nintendo needs to do to make the SNES Classic great 

Before Nintendo unveiled the Switch, its new hybrid game console, to the world, it re-released an old one. The NES Classic Edition was an adorably small box of nostalgia packed with some of the best games for Nintendo’s original home console. Now, the company is doing it again — on September 29th, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System Classic Edition will put games like The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Donkey Kong Country and Mega Man X back in the living room. Hopefully, it’ll do that while improving on the faults of Nintendo’s first throwback machine.

Truth be told, there wasn’t a lot wrong with the NES Classic Edition. With 30 of the original console’s best games pushed to modern TVs over HDMI, it offered an excellent, easy to use retro gaming experience. Still, it had its flaws. The console’s ridiculously short 2.5-foot controller cables forced players to sit uncomfortably close to their TV, for instance, and a few user interface flubs made the menu weirdly difficult to access. With the SNES Classic, Nintendo has a chance to learn from its mistakes. Here are a few simple ways the company’s new retro console can improve on the original’s failings.

Living-room sized controller cables

This one is an easy fix. The NES Classic Edition’s unnecessarily short controller cables made using the retro console feel weird and uncomfortable. Sitting three feet away from the TV screen may have been fine back in the early 90s, but today most gamers would prefer to play their games from the comfort of a couch. The SNES Classic needs to have controllers that can reach across a standard size living room with ease. And indeed, early reports from Nintendo suggest the new controllers will be longer — but if Nintendo gives players the option to sit back and game comfortably, it’ll have to fix the NES Classics other big flaw, too:

Add a menu button

As awful as the NES Classic Edition’s short controller cables were, they had a single upside: they ensured the player was always within arm’s reach of the console’s reset button — which was the only way one could access the system menu to change games or save and load restore points. It was a choice that felt like a glaring design oversight, particularly when you learned that Wii Classic Controllers and third-party gamepads could call up the menu with the touch of a button. Adding a home button to the SNES Classic controller (or using a button combination to call up the menu) would go a long way towards creating a more user-friendly retro gaming experience.

Put game manuals on the console

Old video game instruction booklets are like little time capsules — they’re filled with gorgeous artwork, expanded story information and often, essential gameplay tips. The NES Classic had a menu option for game manuals, but it just brought up a QR code for accessing them online. Considering some of the games on the Classic couldn’t be completed without hints in the manual (read: Startropics), it was a bit of a let down to find they weren’t technically included with the console. Making manuals natively accessible in the SNES Classic Edition menu would be a nice upgrade.

Let us add more games

As great as Nintendo’s throwback NES console was, it still felt limited by its library. Yes, the 30 games the Classic came with were all great, but if your favorite game wasn’t already part of that library, it never would be. At least not officially. Giving buyers a way to add more games to the SNES Classic Edition would increase its value exponentially. Nintendo would just need to add a wireless radio or a companion PC app that could download games to the console over USB.

This upgrade is even more important for the SNES Classic, which comes with fewer games built-in than its predecessor. Sure, the SNES Classic has four times as many RPGs — ensuring hours upon hours of playtime — but 21 games just doesn’t feel like enough. Don’t count on getting a library upgrade, though. Like its predecessor, the SNES Classic is probably designed to have a short shelf life, which brings us to the Classic Edition console line’s biggest problem:

Make enough consoles for everyone

Despite being a nostalgic toy designed just for the holiday season, consumers responded to the NES Classic as if it was a brand-new, fully-fledged game console. Lines stretched around corners outside of electronics stores, and scalpers hoarded the consoles for later sale on eBay. Supply of the NES Classic never caught up with demand, and Nintendo pulled the product from market less than a year after it launched.

For most fans, this was the biggest point of contention — Nintendo had created something they desperately wanted, but made it almost impossible to obtain. The company put out statements acknowledging the demand, and then cancelled the product in response. The SNES Classic’s outlook appears only marginally better: Nintendo says it plans to produce more of the console than its predecessor, but won’t commit to continuing production past the end of 2017.

At the end of the day, we know that if Nintendo fixes none of the NES Classic’s faults, its Super Nintendo follow-up will probably still be a hit. It has 20 of the SNES’s most popular and iconic games built into it, plus Star Fox 2 — a sequel that was mostly finished in-house, but never made it to market. It’s already destined to be a highly sought after collectable, and a worthwhile prize for anyone who picks one up. Assuming, of course, they can find one.

Apple Working With Hertz on Autonomous Car Testing

Apple’s effort to test autonomous vehicle technology in California involves a collaboration with Hertz, the second largest U.S. car rental company, reports Bloomberg.

The disclosure of the relationship between Apple and Hertz came in documents recently released by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. The documents note Apple is leasing its small fleet of Lexus RX450h SUVs for autonomous driving tests from Hertz’s fleet management group.

The iPhone maker is leasing Lexus RX450h sport-utility vehicles from Hertz’s Donlen fleet-management unit, according to documents released recently by the California Department of Motor Vehicles. When Apple received its license to test three autonomous vehicles from the state’s DMV in April, the documents listed Donlen as the lessor and Apple as the lessee.

Hertz’s stock price is up nearly 15 percent on the news, as investors speculate about a larger partnership between the two companies as Apple’s project moves forward.

The news comes as Alphabet’s self-driving car unit Waymo has announced an agreement with Avis Budget to manage Waymo’s fleet of Chrysler Pacifica minivans.

Related Roundup: Apple Car
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Tim Cook Appears Onstage at Cisco Live to Debut New Enterprise Security Partnership

Apple CEO Tim Cook took the stage at Cisco Live in Las Vegas today, sitting down with Cisco CEO Chuck Robbins to discuss the ongoing partnership between the two companies that has leveraged Apple’s expertise in devices and apps and Cisco’s strength in networking and enterprise tools.

Wow! @tim_cook and @ChuckRobbins announcing our IOS security partnership at #CLUS! https://t.co/izPv9neWvZ pic.twitter.com/AD1LUjhwBa

— ☁ David Ulevitch ☁ (@davidu) June 26, 2017

During the session, Cook argued that business customers who use the integrated Apple-Cisco ecosystem should be granted a benefit in the form of lower cybersecurity insurance premiums, reports Reuters.

“The thinking we share here is that if your enterprise or company is using Cisco and Apple, that the combination of these should make that (cyber-security) insurance cost significantly less,” Cook said. “This is something we’re going to spend some energy on. You should reap that benefit.”

Cisco also announced its upcoming Cisco Security Connector program for iOS devices, launching later this year.

Expected to be released in the fall of 2017, the Cisco Security Connector is designed to deliver the deepest visibility, control, and privacy for iOS devices. The Cisco Security Connector offers organizations the most granular view of what is happening on enterprise-owned mobile devices and provides the best protection for users, anywhere they travel. With the Cisco Security Connector, businesses will now have the ability to meet risk and compliance requirements from auditors and ultimately expand iOS adoption in new ways. […]

With the Cisco Security Connector, organizations gain the following:

– Visibility: Ensure compliance of mobile users and their enterprise-owned iOS devices during incident investigations by rapidly identifying what happened, whom it affected, and the risk exposure.
– Control: Protect users of iOS devices from connecting to malicious sites on the internet, whether on the corporate network, public Wi-Fi, or cellular networks.
– Privacy: Safeguard corporate data and users by encrypting internet (DNS) requests.

Cisco says it collaborating with insurance companies on “more robust policies” for customers taking advantage of continuous security monitoring based on technologies from Apple and Cisco.

Tags: Tim Cook, enterprise, Cisco
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Apple Acquires German Eye Tracking Firm SensoMotoric Instruments

Apple has almost certainly acquired German computer vision company SensoMotoric Instruments, a provider of eye tracking glasses and systems, based on evidence compiled by MacRumors.

On May 2, Apple’s vice president of corporate law Gene Levoff, representing Delaware-based shell company Vineyard Capital Corporation, granted power of attorney to German law firm Hiking Kühn Lüer Wojtek to represent Vineyard Capital Corporation in all business related to the acquisition of SensoMotoric Instruments.

On June 16, SensoMotoric Instruments filed several documents with the German Company Register outlining new articles of incorporation. SensoMotoric’s previous managing director Eberhard Schmidt was replaced by Dr. Ali Sahin, one of the German attorneys representing Vineyard Capital Corporation.

Vineyard Capital Corporation is listed as having acquired all company shares of SensoMotoric Instruments.

Apple takes steps to hide its acquisitions through shell companies, which essentially only exist on paper, but Levoff’s signature on one of the documents is a clear giveaway that Vineyard Capital Corporation is Apple. Levoff even notarized the document in Cupertino, California, where Apple is headquartered.

SensoMotoric Instruments recently updated its website, removing over a dozen pages with detailed information about its products. The website also no longer has a jobs portal, news blog, schedule of events and workshops, contact information, list of distributors and resellers, or mailing list signup form.

An archived version of the website from last week indicated the company was hiring, but the current version does not. Schmidt’s name and headshot have also been removed from the website now that he is no longer managing director. Christian Villwock, Director of OEM Solutions Business, was also removed.

The acquisition is backed up by an anonymous tipster, who told us that he allegedly spoke to an Apple employee today who said the deal has been completed. Additionally, one of SensoMotoric’s clients informed us that they have been attempting to contact the company for several weeks without hearing back.

Apple and SensoMotoric Instruments did not respond to multiple requests for comments. SensoMotoric’s phone line was out of service.

SensoMotoric Instruments, founded in 1991, has developed a range of eye tracking hardware and software for several fields of use, including virtual and augmented reality, in-car systems, clinical research, cognitive training, linguistics, neuroscience, physical training and biomechanics, and psychology.

The company’s Eye Tracking Glasses, for instance, are capable of recording a person’s natural gaze behavior in real-time and in real world situations with a sampling rate up to 120Hz. As seen in the video below, one possible use case is for athletes looking to evaluate and improve their visual performance.

SensoMotoric has also developed eye-tracking technology for virtual reality headsets such as the Oculus Rift, which can analyze the wearer’s gaze and help to reduce motion sickness, a common side effect of VR. The solution can also allow for a person’s gaze to control menus or aim in a game with their gaze.

SensoMotoric’s other eye-tracking solutions include standalone devices, such as the RED250mobile, which allows saccade-based studies to be conducted at 250Hz for researchers who require both mobility and high sampling rate.

Apple has reportedly prototyped a pair of “smart glasses” that would connect to an iPhone and display “images and other information” to the wearer, and SensoMotoric’s eye-tracking technology could feasibly play a role in that product alongside solutions from Apple’s other acquisitions like Faceshift.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has also repeatedly expressed a “profound” interest in augmented reality, calling the technology “a big idea” like the smartphone. He said augmented reality should “amplify” human contact, but noted “there are things to discover before that technology is good enough for the mainstream.”

With iOS 11, Apple is delving into augmented reality in a big way, introducing an ARKit development platform that will allow developers to quickly and easily build augmented reality experiences into their apps and games.

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SensoMotoric Instruments is headquartered in Teltow, Germany, near Berlin, and its website said it had an office in Boston as well. It’s unclear if the company and its roughly 60 employees, according to LinkedIn, will merge within Apple or remain an independent subsidiary. Financial terms of the deal are unknown.

Eric Slivka contributed to this report.

Tags: Apple acquisition, SensoMotoric Instruments
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Apple Releases First Public Beta of iOS 11 to Public Beta Testers

Apple today released the first public beta of iOS 11 to its public beta testing group, allowing non-developers to download and test the update ahead of its fall release. iOS 11 has been available for developers since June 5, and the first public beta corresponds with the second developer beta.

Beta testers who have signed up for Apple’s beta testing program will receive the iOS 11 beta update over-the-air after installing the proper certificate on an iOS device.

Those who want to join the beta testing program can sign up on Apple’s beta testing website, which gives users access to iOS, macOS, and tvOS betas. Before installing a beta, make sure to create a full encrypted iTunes backup and be sure to install it on a secondary device because beta software is not stable and can include many bugs.

iOS 11 brings subtle design changes to the operating system, including a new Lock screen experience and a customizable, redesigned Control Center. Siri is smarter, has a more natural voice, and can do more, Messages features person-to-person Apple Pay, Notes has searchable handwriting and document scanning, and Music now lets you share playlists with your friends.

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A new Files app improves file management on iOS devices, and for the iPad in particular, there’s a new Dock, an App Switcher, and support for Drag and Drop, all of which vastly improves multitasking on the device. An entirely revamped App Store is coming in the update, photos and videos take up less space, iMessages can be stored in iCloud, and developers are getting new tools like ARKit for creating impressive new augmented reality apps and games.

For full details on all of the new features included in iOS 11, make sure to check out our iOS 11 roundup. iOS 11 will be available for developers and public testers for testing purposes for several months ahead of a planned fall release.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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