AltspaceVR is keeping its virtual hangout open

AltspaceVR might have just saved its virtual world at the 11th hour, because the company is halting its plans to shut down. According to a new post by the team, AltspaceVR isn’t closing down and is going to live on. It’s still unclear what’s going on behind the scenes, but the company says it’s “now deep in discussions” with people who are “passionate about AltspaceVR” and “want to guarantee that [the] virtual oasis stays open.”

We have good news! AltspaceVR is going to live on thanks to you. https://t.co/MlYimlKSYu

— AltspaceVR (@AltspaceVR) August 16, 2017

If you’re not familiar, AltspaceVR is sort of like Second Life for virtual reality that works with the Gear VR, HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. It announced its shutdown in July after running out of money and failing to secure another round of funding on time. Since the company had no choice but to let most of its employees go, a skeleton crew is keeping its virtual world running for now.

While the company is being very secretive about its future plans, TechCrunch has spotted a potential investor in Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. When AltspaceVR announced its shutdown, Luckey polled his followers, asking whether he should try to save the California-based firm:

Should I try to save @AltspaceVR? (caveat: may not be possible)

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) July 29, 2017

Now, he has retweeted the company’s story announcing that it’s living on. Whoever its new investors are, AltspaceVR users can now throw virtual parties to celebrate their virtual hangout’s new lease on life.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: AltspaceVR

Now Alexa can do your bidding through Ultimate Ears’ speakers

Alexa keeps making its way to non-Amazon devices recently, such as Anker’s Dot clone and HTC’s U11 phone. Now, it’s gracing two more devices with its presence: Ultimate Ears’ Boom 2 and Megaboom wireless speakers. Simply press the Bluetooth button and issue a voice command to play music, order food, get sports scores and do other things Alexa is capable of wherever you are, whether you’re in the pool, out for a picnic or just chilling at home.

While it’s great that you now have a portable choice if you want Amazon’s voice assistant in your life, take note that it does have limitations on Ultimate Ears’ devices. You can only access Alexa through the company app’s “Just Tap and Ask” feature that’s exclusively available on Android. There’s more: the app and firmware updates that come with Alexa won’t be available for Pixel and OnePlus phones, as well as for the Huawei Mate 9 due to “known experience reasons.” You might not also get all of Alexa’s features on Ultimate Ears’ devices.

In other words, the voice assistant’s addition is a welcome plus if you already have the speakers and have access to a compatible Android device. However, you may want to weigh your options before getting one if you’re in the market for an Alexa-enabled gadget and couldn’t care less about portability.

Source: Ultimate Ears

Intel’s second 10-nanometer chip architecture is Ice Lake

Intel still hasn’t shipped its first 10-nanometer processors, but that isn’t stopping it from teasing the next batch. The company’s codename page has revealed Ice Lake, a series of chips built on a “10 nm+” (read: iterated 10nm) process. There’s virtually nothing else known about it at this point, but AnandTech speculates that this will be the more comprehensive 10nm launch. The initial architecture, Cannon Lake, may be focused on mobile CPUs that are smaller and thus easier to make when chip yields are relatively poor. Ice Lake would come once yields are relatively stable and can handle bigger desktop-class parts.

The timing is unclear. Cannon Lake is slated to arrive sometime in 2018, though, so Ice Lake is more likely to show in either late 2018 or 2019.

It’s not surprising that Intel would start dribbling out information. Intel has had to repeatedly push back its processor launches as the scientific realities of ever-smaller processes make upgrades difficult, but Cannon Lake finally appears to be on the horizon. Now, PC makers and investors are likely wondering what comes next. While it was virtually certain that the post-Cannon Lake design would stick to 10nm, this helps frame the discussion going forward.

Via: AnandTech, 9to5Mac

Source: Intel

SteelSeries’ new keyboard ensures you never miss a Discord alert

SteelSeries is known for precision products, claiming its recent mouse has such a high level of tracking that on-screen characters matched its movements on a 1:1 scale, a much-wanted milestone from eSports players. So it’s no surprise that the company’s new Apex M570 keyboard — boldly subtitled ‘The Complete Package’ — aims to be a similarly precise instrument with vibrant LEDs that can be keyed to alerts.

The keyboard has an aerospace aluminum frame and employs QX2 switches — its own, signaling a departure from the Cherry switches it used in earlier sets. Each key fields RGB LEDs that can be programmed for particular displays linked to different alerts; In other words, you can set it to flash or glow different hues and durations to signify chats, emails or messages. Its keys have 4mm of travel, yet its ads claim they’re whisper-quiet — and are promised to last for 50 million presses.

But most exciting might be the integration of Discord into the SteelSeries Engine, the company’s software to customize alerts, which will let you set specific alerts so you never miss a message. You can treat yourself to the the Apex M750 today for $140.

Source: SteelSeries

An injectable bandage could fix a broken heart — literally

Why it matters to you

A smart injectable bandage could help fix damaged organ tissues without patients needing surgery.

A smart, stamp-sized “shape memory” bandage developed by engineers at the University of Toronto could help fix damaged organ tissue without the need for surgery. As its creators explain, it could help mend broken hearts — literally!

“Once engineered tissues are made in the lab, the only way for them to get into the human body is by a surgical approach, by opening the chest to place the tissues in,” biomedical engineering professor Milica Radisic told Digital Trends. “In this work, we were able to marry minimally invasive delivery with tissues engineering [to develop] shape memory polymer scaffolds that enable us to inject fully functional tissues into the body.”

The term “shape memory” refers to a material with the ability to return to its original default shape at a certain temperature. In this case, it means that the smart patch could be injected through a needle, and then unfold itself into a bandage-like shape once inside a patient. The results would be organ repair with no surgery more invasive than the injection of a small needle. It is one of a number of exciting new projects that will allow for less invasive surgery to be carried out, thereby reducing risks for patients.

The scaffold itself is made out a biocompatible, biodegradable polymer. Over time, this material breaks down to leave only the new tissue behind. “We are particularly excited about using this technology to inject patches of heart tissue for the treatment of myocardial infarction, although we can deliver other tissues as well,” Radisic said. These tissues might include organs like the liver.

So far, the technology has been tested effectively on hearts in pigs and rats, where the subjects not only survived the operation but did so with flying colors. In the experiment with post-heart damaged rats, the injected patch allowed them to pump more blood than they did without it. While it does not restore heart function entirely, it could still greatly improve the quality of life for patients.

Radisic said that the team hopes to carry out human trials in the future, although this will almost certainly be “years” away. “This will likely be done through a startup company,” Radisic concluded.

A paper describing the work was recently published in the journal Nature Materials.

Pixel 2 passes through the FCC, HTC confirmed as manufacturer

The smaller 2017 Pixel has made its way to the FCC, confirming some of the rumors surrounding the device.

Phones that are being sold in the U.S. need to be certified by the Federal Communication Commission in order to ensure they meet the necessary legal requirements such as being able to accept interference from other devices. As we get closer to the release of the next Pixel smartphones, the smaller of the two devices has made its way to the FCC, confirming certain rumors.

The FCC page lists all the applicable documents for the device, with most documents being filed by HTC. This lines up with earlier rumors stating HTC would manufacture the smaller device, but not necessarily the larger one.

Also included are the radio bands for the device. Like previous years, Google is including support for all four of the major U.S. carriers in one device. Of special note is LTE bands 12 and 66, which allow for faster data on carriers like T-Mobile and AT&T. The specifications do not specify the device will support Bluetooth 5.0, but based on Android 8.0’s support for the newer version, and the fact that the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 includes support for Bluetooth 5.0, we can assume the new Pixels will support it.

Speaking of which, the device’s e-label, though hard to read, gives us even more information. The device is currently running Android 8.0.1, with the August 2017 security patch, but both of these could change prior to launch. The first screenshot lists the device has 50.66 gigabytes of storage free, pointing towards a 64GB option. There is also text for the rumored squeeze Assistant functionality under the “Languages, input & gestures” header. Finally, the “8998” figure in the baseband points to at least the Snapdragon 835, since 8998 is the official part number from Qualcomm. Both the Snapdragon 820 and 821 shared the same part number of 8996, so we could see another instance of the Pixel launching with the proverbial Snapdragon 836.

Are you looking forward to the Pixel 2? Let us know down below!

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Don’t eat the Nougat [#acpodcast]

This week, Daniel, Andrew, and Jerry follow up on Andrew’s second opinion article about the Moto Z2 Force. They also talk about Bluetooth 5, the LG V30, and the installed base of Nougat, which is now at 13.5% of all Android devices. This brings up a great question: Is it better to buy a slightly older “flagship” phone, or a brand new mid-range device?

Show Notes and Links:

• Moto Z2 Force, a second opinion: Just not enough
• Bluetooth 5 and the HTC U11: You had it all along
• Sponsor: Thrifter
• LG V30: Specs, images, release date, and everything else

Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/androidcentral348.mp3

Vudu movie streaming comes to Apple TV on August 22nd

It’s not just Amazon that’s bringing an arguably overdue video service to the Apple TV in the near future. After a tease in June, Vudu has announced that its streaming movie service will come to Apple’s media box on August 22nd, or weeks ahead of the originally announced fall release. You likely won’t pay for movies directly on the device given Apple policies taking a cut of in-app media sales (we’ve asked Vudu for clarification). Still, this means you can watch your purchased or rented Vudu shows on the Apple TV without resorting to AirPlay on one of your iOS devices.

The addition isn’t completely necessary given that iTunes frequently covers the bases for purchases and rentals. All the same, it’s still closing a conspicuous gap in availability. Vudu has been available on Roku players, smart TVs, Chromecast and other devices for years — the Apple TV is one of the few gadgets that can’t access it. You probably weren’t basing your purchasing decision on Vudu (not by itself, at least), but this might help sway you if you’re determined to have as many choices as possible.

Source: Variety

D&D’s revamped RPG companion site is live

Back in March, Wizards of the Coast announced a new digital toolset for Dungeons & Dragons that would eliminate the agony of paperwork in the pen-and-paper game. Players can still gather around a table and roll their own dice, but the web-based D&D Beyond will handle all their characters’ stats, skills and modifiers to streamline play. Today, the toolset is available for everyone with both free and paid tiers. Time to assemble a party, adventurers.

D&D Beyond is now live! https://t.co/sfffwDarP5 pic.twitter.com/L9qG81DNrE

— D&D Beyond (@DnDBeyond) August 15, 2017

When we peeked into D&D Beyond, we liked what we saw: Finally, you can parse through the game’s Fifth Edition rulebooks and search for particular terms, which is a godsend for anyone who’s gotten lost in the official tomes. The step-by-step character creation process is great for players new and old, especially since you can fold in your own homebrew rules.

Best of all, you can use D&D Beyond without paying a dime — though there are benefits to subscribing. The ad-supported free tier grants most of the service’s features including the full site tools and access to the community forums, though it caps users at a 6-character roster. For $3 per month, the first paid option gives unlimited characters and allows users to load public fan-made content (spells, monsters and the like). The pricier $6 tier is for more serious party-forming players and dungeon masters, granting them bonus official materials.

While it’s currently only on the web, Wizards plans to expand D&D Beyond to mobile apps for an even more manageable experience. While the ultimate goal is to fully transition the game’s manuals and documents to digital platforms like D&D Beyond, they’ll keep printing books so long as the demand exists. After all, there’s nothing like cracking open your heavily-tabbed Monster’s Manual to find the next beast you’ll throw at your unwitting party…

Source: D&D Beyond

Blow stuff up and fight evil as ‘Agents of Mayhem’ on console and PC

In the age of online-only Overwatch, you might think to yourself, ‘I’d love this hero shooter stuff if it was in a single-player campaign.’ You might want a game that had great cartoony art as you blow enemies away. You might want it to be funny and a bit crass — say, written by the studio responsible for the bizarre sandbox series Saints Row. If you checked those boxes, Agents of Mayhem is probably right for you, and it’s available now for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.

Time to cause some Mayhem! Out now on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC! pic.twitter.com/tPloAFIeTo

— Agents of Mayhem (@aomthegame) August 15, 2017

Players fill small squads of characters with different skills and unleash them on the minions of an evil mastermind. The game follows through on its cartoony setup with Saturday morning cartoon-esque intros and outros for each mission. We were beyond excited for the game when we saw it at E3 this year and favored it over the similar but less-polished-at-the-time Crackdown 3. We’ll have to wait until November when the latter comes out to truly compare, but Agents is out now — and who likes waiting?

Source: Agents of Mayhem (Twitter)