‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ trailer pits John Boyega against kaiju

Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim was a geek’s fever dream, mixing together elements of kaiju (giant monster) films, huge robots and anime. Now, the cinema gods have blessed us with a sequel, Pacific Rim Uprising. This time, it’s John Boyega (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) in the starring role, playing the son of Idris Elba’s Stacker Pentecost from the first film. He’s a former Jaeger pilot turned criminal who finds himself as part of the resistance fighting against a new wave of monsters. And as you’d imagine, they’re even bigger than what we saw before.

Steven DeKnight, creator of the excellent Spartacus TV series, replaces del Toro in the director’s chair. Between his work on Spartacus, the first season of Daredevil and Angel, I’m not too worried about DeKnight being able to pull off the film, even though it’s his first feature. Based on the trailer, it looks like there’s plenty of giant robot mayhem, and perhaps even a chance we’ll see more of the monster-ravaged world.

FCC creates hurricane task force to aid recovery in Puerto Rico

Days after the agency pledged $77 million to fix communications on Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, newly-reconfirmed FCC Chair Ajit Pai announced the creation of the Hurricane Recovery Task Force. It’s dedicated to repairing damage caused by the entire season’s slew of storms, but will focus on fixing the communications networks on the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, the latter of which was so damaged that almost 90 percent of its cell towers were downed by Hurricane Maria.

Michael Carowitz, special counsel to Pai, will chair the task force, which will consist of folks from across the agency. It will basically operate as an internal group focusing the FCC’s recovery efforts while the agency as a whole continues operating.

“As we shift from short-term incident management to a longer-term recovery phase, it makes sense to adjust the structure of the FCC’s response. In the weeks and months to come, the Commission will be confronting a wide range of storm-related issues that fall within the jurisdiction of numerous bureaus and offices,” Pai said in a statement. “It is critical that we adopt a coordinated and comprehensive approach to support the rebuilding of communications infrastructure and restoration of communications services. The Hurricane Recovery Task Force will allow us to do just that.”

Most of the recovery news has rightly focused on the difficult journey to get Puerto Rico’s power grid back online. Private companies have stepped up to that challenge, like Tesla sending its Powerwall batteries and technicians (an effort that may be upgraded to building out PR’s next grid, given the positive Twitter exchange between Governor Ricardo Rossello and Tesla CEO Elon Musk). But communications are important, too, enough for Facebook to send its connectivity team to the US commonwealth.

Tesla pushes EV semi-truck launch to November 16th

The automotive world has been awaiting Tesla’s long-teased electric semi-truck, which it was supposed to unveil on October 26th. But the company is pushing that date back to November 16th for a couple reasons: First, it needs to fix a few bottlenecks to speed up production of its upcoming Model 3 car. But more pressingly, the company is delaying the release of its truck to make more Powerwall batteries to send to Puerto Rico and other hurricane-devastated areas.

Tesla Semi unveil now Nov 16. Diverting resources to fix Model 3 bottlenecks & increase battery production for Puerto Rico & other affected areas.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 6, 2017

Shortly after Hurricane Maria abated and reports emerged that Puerto Rico’s power grid went down, Tesla began quietly sending hundreds of its homestead power bank units along with technicians to install them. The commonwealth’s governor synced up with Elon Musk over Twitter about the possibility of Tesla doing more — like potentially help build new energy infrastructure. Musk did include “other areas” in his tweet, presumably including the US Virgin Islands and potentially other locations devastated by this season’s damaging hurricanes.

Source: Elon Musk (Twitter)

MacRumors Giveaway: Win a Thunderbolt Station 3 From CalDigit

For this week’s giveaway, we’ve teamed up with CalDigit to offer MacRumors a chance to win one of the company’s TS3 Thunderbolt Station 3 docks.

The TS3, designed to connect to Apple’s most recent Thunderbolt 3 Macs, features a sleek ribbed aluminum enclosure and adds a range of functionality to machines like the MacBook Pro with its wealth of ports.

At the back, the TS3 offers two USB 3.1 Type-A ports, two eSATA ports, a Gigabit Ethernet port, a DisplayPort, and two Thunderbolt 3 ports. At the front, there are audio in and audio out jacks, along with a third USB 3.1 Type-A port. All of the ports are accessible through a single connected Thunderbolt 3 cable, which also provides charging.

CalDigit’s TS3 is one of the Thunderbolt 3 docks on the market that’s able to offer full 85W charging to the 15-inch Retina MacBook Pro, so there is no compromise to be made when it comes to charging speed.

It is compatible with all Thunderbolt 3 Macs and supports a single 5K monitor or dual 4K monitors.

We reviewed the TS3 earlier this year and we were impressed with the design and the balance of features it offers, along with the 85W charging, and it’s one of the only docks to offer eSATA ports.

CalDigit normally charges $250 for the TS3 Thunderbolt 3 docking station, but we have two to give to MacRumors readers. To enter to win, use the Rafflecopter widget below and enter an email address. Email addresses will be used solely for contact purposes to reach the winner and send the prize. You can earn additional entries by subscribing to our weekly newsletter, subscribing to our YouTube channel, following us on Twitter, or visiting the MacRumors Facebook page.

Due to the complexities of international laws regarding giveaways, only U.S. residents who are 18 years of age or older are eligible to enter. To offer feedback or get more information on the giveaway restrictions, please refer to our Site Feedback section, as that is where discussion of the rules will be redirected.

a Rafflecopter giveawayThe contest will run from today (October 6) at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time through 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time on October 13. The winners will be chosen randomly on October 13 and will be contacted by email. The winners will have 48 hours to respond and provide a shipping address before new winners are chosen.

Tags: giveaway, CalDigit
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Jony Ive Talks Design, Steve Jobs, Future Tech and More on Stage at TechFest 2017

Apple design chief Jony Ive spoke this afternoon at TechFest 2017, an event held in New York City. Ive sat down for an interview with The New Yorker editor David Remnick to answer some questions about his design philosophies, his time at Apple, and what it was like working with Steve Jobs, who served as a “wonderful teacher” for Ive.

Ive’s TechFest talk wasn’t streamed live, but Business Insider was on hand at the interview and shared a live blog with some of Ive’s responses and discussion points, and The New Yorker also shared several quotes on its Twitter account.

Image via The New Yorker
Perhaps the most interesting part of the conversation centered on upcoming technology Apple is exploring. Ive said that there are “certain ideas” Apple has in mind, and that the company is “waiting for the technology to catch up with the idea.” In response to a question about whether he was still hungry for new designs and new products, Ive answered “Absolutely.”

He went on to say that there are “many opportunities” around displays, and as silicon becomes smaller and more efficient, “the opportunities are extraordinary.” Ive also says he’s excited about AI and the kind of “good tools” it can lead to.

“The phone we just announced a few weeks ago. That technology is something we’d been working on for five years. We had prototypes. This is an interesting one, theres’s a tendency, and I understand it, with the benefit of hindsight, it all seems inevitable.”

“For 99 percent of the time, it didn’t work for us. For 99% of the development cycle all we had were things that failed.”

Developing new products, says Ive, requires a mix of curiosity and focus, to ask the right questions while staying focused on getting a product into development. “There are 55 reasons it hasn’t been done before,” he said. “So you have to be so focused, determined.” Ive says maintaining that level of focus is “exhausting.”

Ive touched on his relationship with Steve and the ideals that Jobs instilled in the company. Money was never the focus for Steve Jobs, even when he returned to the company and started making major cuts to the product lineup at the time. “The focus was ‘the products aren’t every good, are they. Let’s focus on making some good products,’” said Ive.

Sometimes design inspiration at Apple comes from poorly designed products, and that was the case with the iPhone. According to Ive, a loathing for the current phones at the time motivated Apple to come up with something new. “You think there has to be a better way of doing it,” said Ive.

Apple executives have said several times that Apple’s products are designed for people and not for profit, a sentiment that Ive echoed in his interview. “Most things are built in an opportunistic way, to a cost, or to a schedule, they’re not built to people,” he said.

On the topic of design overall, Ive says that he remembers the process most fondly, not the product. He says he’s been fortunate to work with extraordinary people. “If I get to sit down for 2 hours with one of the world’s best silicon chip designers, I could not be happier,” said Ive.

Tag: Jony Ive
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Popular iOS Twitter Client Tweetbot 4 Gets First Discount of 2017, Dropping From $10 to $5

Tweetbot is one of the most popular third-party Twitter clients, and this week developer Tapbots has dropped the price of the latest version of the app — Tweetbot 4 — by 50 percent, from $9.99 to $4.99. The last time a similar price drop happened was December 2016, so the app had yet to see a discount throughout 2017.

It’s not clear how long the discount will last, but given the length of previous sales (around 4-5 days), it should stick around until October 7-8.

The app lets you mute tweets by hashtags, users, sources, or keywords, includes an automatic night mode that turns on or off depending on the brightness of your iPhone’s screen, and has basic Twitter features like direct messages and lists. Tweetbot 4 also retains Twitter’s old reverse chronological timeline order, and doesn’t surface cards that suggest Tweets you may have missed or that you might like.

Additionally today, Fry’s has marked down BeatsX Earphones to a notable low of $94, in comparison to the traditional retail price of $150. You can purchase the earphones in Grey, Blue, White, and Black, and the discount will appear once the item is placed in your cart. This deal ends tomorrow, October 7.

Nodus Access Case (left) and Shell Case (right)
Nodus has a discount on iPhone X cases, offering 10 percent off the Access Case and Shell Case when you pre-order each accessory ahead of their respective late October and early November delivery estimates. The Access Case is a leather portfolio case with room for credit cards, while the Shell Case lets you attach your iPhone to any surface using the included micro dock accessory.

We just launched our new giveaway for the week as well, so head here for a chance to win a TS3 Thunderbolt Station 3 dock from CalDigit. For more of this week’s deals, including a one-day-only discount on the UE MEGABOOM right now at Best Buy, be sure to head over to our Deals Roundup.

Related Roundup: Apple DealsTag: Tweetbot
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HomeKit Coming to Hunter Douglas’ New PowerView Motorization System for Window Shades

Hunter Douglas recently launched its next-generation PowerView Motorization system designed to control Hunter Douglas motorized window shades.

The new version of the PowerView Motorization supports Amazon and Google services out of the box, but with an update later this year, it will also support Apple’s HomeKit.

The PowerView Motorization Hub lets users control, time, and set their window shades to raise, lower, and tilt on an automatic schedule. With HomeKit support, the PowerView Motion will let window shades and blinds be controlled via Siri voice commands, and shade settings can also be incorporated into HomeKit scenes for full-home automation.

The PowerView Pebble Controller component of the PowerView Motorization system, which offers a way to manually control the shades sans smartphone, comes in new colors (Ecru, Oyster, and Mist) so now there are a wide range of color options to match any interior.

The PowerView Hub itself has also been updated with a new design that’s similar in appearance to the Pebble Controller, and with the addition of Wi-Fi support, it no longer needs to connect directly to a router. It also offers faster processing speeds for a better end user experience, and the accompanying PowerView Repeater offers strengthened signal ranges for improved home coverage.

Finally, along with the launch of the new PowerView Motorization system, the PowerView app has been updated with a new user interface that includes a customizable dashboard where users can add favorite scenes and automations.

Hunter Douglas has not yet provided a specific launch date for when we can expect HomeKit compatibility to be added to the new PowerView Motorization system, but it is expected to be introduced before the end of the year. More info on the updated PowerView line can be found on the Hunter Douglas website.

Tag: HomeKit
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Apple Doesn’t Deliberately Slow Down Older Devices According to Benchmark Analysis

Benchmarking company Futuremark recently set out to debunk long-running speculation that Apple intentionally slows down older iPhones when it releases new software updates as a way to encourage its customers to buy new devices.

Starting in 2016, Futuremark collected over 100,000 benchmark results for seven different iPhone models across three versions of iOS, using that data to create performance comparison charts to determine whether there have been performance drops in iOS 9, iOS 10, and iOS 11.

The first device tested was the iPhone 5s, as it’s the oldest device capable of running iOS 11. iPhone 5s, released in 2013, was the first iPhone to get a 64-bit A7 chip, and iOS 11 is limited to 64-bit devices. Futuremark used the 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Graphics test and calculated all benchmark scores from the iPhone 5s across a given month to make its comparison.

The higher the bar, the better the performance, and based on the testing, GPU performance on the iPhone 5s has remained constant from iOS 9 to iOS 11 with just minor variations that Futuremark says “fall well within normal levels.”

iPhone 5s CPU performance over time was measured using the 3DMark Sling Shot Extreme Physics test, and again, results were largely consistent.

Charts for other devices, including the iPhone 6, 6s, and 7, show some mild dips and increases when it comes to GPU performance. In the iPhone 6 and 7, GPU performance is up compared to previous-generation versions of iOS.

CPU performance across those three devices has dropped slightly, something Futuremark attributes to “minor iOS updates or other factors.” “A user would be unlikely to notice this small difference in everyday use,” says the site. Based on its benchmarking comparisons, Futuremark claims “there are no signs of a conspiracy.”

Our benchmarking data shows that, rather than intentionally degrading the performance of older models, Apple actually does a good job of supporting its older devices with regular updates that maintain a consistent level of performance across iOS versions.

Raw CPU and GPU power across devices does not offer a complete picture of performance on an older device that’s updated to a new operating system, however, nor are benchmarks an accurate measure of real world performance. Apple may not be deliberately slowing down older devices with its software updates, as some have speculated, but there are other factors to take into account.

New features that eat up more system resources can make a device feel slower, as can more system intensive design elements and other tweaks and changes designed for newer devices that are more powerful.

Apple’s operating system updates also introduce more advanced APIs and technology for its newest devices, leading to built-in and third-party apps that are aimed at more powerful devices and may not be optimized on older devices, resulting in an older device feeling more sluggish than a newer device following an iOS update.

Sometimes, there are also early bugs in the software that need to be worked out through additional updates. For example, we’ve seen complaints of app slowdowns and performance drops from users who have installed iOS 11, issues that may be resolved as Apple tweaks and updates the iOS 11 operating system.

Related Roundup: iOS 11
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Samsung Connect Home review

Research Center:
Samsung Connect Home

It’s a commonly held belief that the next big shift in smart home technology will be convergence — for good reason. Once you’ve added smart lighting, security and multi-room audio to your home, you may find your router is buried under a mass of proprietary communications hubs.

Multi-device controllers like Wink and SmartThings (now owned by Samsung) have helped to reduce the clutter. Samsung Connect Home takes convergence one step further by bringing together whole home Wi-Fi with a SmartThings controller. It’s an obvious progression, but one that has taken some time to reach the marketplace.

With SmartThings, Samsung has acquired great experience and execution in smart home control. It makes a lot of sense to take that proposition to the masses by packaging it in a router. But with little heritage in home networking, Samsung will need to be on form to compete with leading whole home Wi-Fi systems like NETGEAR Orbi , Linksys Velop and Google WiFi in a crowded marketplace. Read on t find out how well it did in our Samsung Connect Home review.

Samsung Connect Home mashes Wi-Fi and smart home control but convenience comes with compromise.

Samsung Connect Home is a compelling concept, controlling your home network and smart devices via a single, compact hub. Switch on lights, adjust room temperature, fire up the guest Wi-Fi and more.

Connect Home can operate the same extensive list of devices as a SmartThings Hub. It includes voice assistants like Google Home and Amazon Echo, smart lighting systems, including Philips Hue and LIFX, ecobee and Nest Learning Thermostats, security systems and speakers.

Like other whole home Wi-Fi systems, Samsung Connect Home takes a modular approach to networking. A single hub, priced at $169.99, supports wireless coverage in homes up to 1,500 square feet. For larger homes, a $379.99 three-hub mesh network extends coverage up to 4,500 square feet.

AC1300 network speeds (up to 866 Mbps at 5 GHz, 400 Mbps at 2.4 GHz) are match competitors such as Google Wi-Fi ($129/$299 for a three pack) and the first-generation eero ($199/$499), but are slower than NETGEAR Orbi and Linksys Velop.

Samsung Connect Home Compared To

Netatmo Healthy Home Coach

Amazon Echo Show

Google Home

Canary Flex

Netatmo Presence

Robomow RS622

Myfox Home Alarm and Security Camera

Netatmo Welcome

Nyrius Smart Outlet

Netgear Arlo Security System

August Smart Lock

Nest Protect

Emerson Sensi Thermostat

Kwikset Kevo

Revolv Smart Home Hub

For speed as well as smarts, the $249.99 Samsung Connect Home Pro offers the same wireless coverage with AC2600 speeds (up to 1733 Mbps at 5 GHz, 800 Mbps at 2.4 GHz) and a premium finish. Those with large homes (and deep pockets) can create a mesh network with up to five Home Pro hubs for extensive coverage.

Cute and compact hardware, packed with connectivity

The days of the monolithic, ugly wireless router are numbered. Whole home Wi-Fi systems like Samsung Connect Home are compact, aesthetically neutral devices designed to be scattered around the home rather than hidden in the basement or in a closet.

Most systems released in the last couple of years have been cut from similar cloth – white, puck-shaped hardware sporting twin Gigabit Ethernet ports (one for connection to your modem and a second for wired network devices), a power input and a reset button. No twinkly status lights, no spiky antennas but also no USB ports for storage sharing and, with just two ports, limited hardwired connectivity.

With integrated smart home device support, the lack of ports is less of a problem for Samsung Connect Home than its competitors. Packed with connectivity, it supports Zigbee, Z-Wave, Bluetooth 4.1 & Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac wave2).

Under the hood, the Connect Home and Pro systems are a little different in architecture. Connect Home is powered by the Qualcomm IPQ4018 (700MHz Quad Core) processor with 512 MB RAM, while the pricier model gets a boost from a 1.7 GHz dual-core Qualcomm IPQ8065.

Frustrating setup experience, requiring live Internet connection

Setup is performed with the Samsung Connect smartphone app, available for iOS and Android. The app frustratingly requires a live Internet connection, as you’ll need to sign up for (or log into) a Samsung account during the process. If your phone has data service then life should be more straightforward as long as it can connect to the router. However, I was unable to complete setup on either the Connect Home or Connect Home Pro using a Google Pixel XL smartphone running Android Oreo. It simply couldn’t detect the Wi-Fi hub.

The kind of setup experience that might see this product being returned to retailers in droves.

As that was the only device I had with mobile data, I was forced to dig out an old Moto X handset, connect that to the Pixel’s mobile hotspot for data service, then download and launch the Samsung Connect app to complete installation. The kind of hackery Dr. Frankenstein would be proud of, certainly, but also the kind of experience that might see this product being returned to retailers in droves.

Even when the router was configured, with the Pixel XL connected to its wireless network, the smartphone remained unable to detect and manage Connect Home’s settings. Samsung’s engineers clearly have some work ahead of them.

Fortunately, once the main router was set up, adding the two satellite hubs to the network was simple. Plug in, a few taps on the Connect Home app, a quick connectivity test and you’re done.

A home hub for all your connected devices

The Samsung Connect app manages both your home network settings as well as smart home devices from a wide range of manufacturers. As a bonus, if you own other Samsung devices with network connectivity, such as a newer Smart TV, washing machine, or fancy fridge, you can connect directly to those using your phone as a TV remote to schedule washing cycles and more.

Router controls are a little less intuitive and can be tricky to hunt down on the app, but the selection is reasonably comprehensive. Like most whole-home Wi-Fi systems, Samsung Connect Home isn’t going to serve the needs of advanced users looking for every possible network optimization tweak and widget available, but there’s a decent array of features that’ll suit mainstream home admins. They include bandwidth prioritization, port forwarding, guest networking, and light parental controls for restricting online access at dinner or bedtime.

While the app looks slick, it doesn’t take too long to uncover issues, particularly around device connectivity. For example, the My Devices section can be very slow to update when new devices are added to the network, meaning you never quite trust what’s being reported.  Worse still, without a live Internet connection, the Connect Home seems unable to provide any visibility of local network devices.

Samsung appears to be adding missed features and performance improvements with firmware updates – hopefully that work will continue over the coming months.

As a SmartThings hub, Connect Home does a decent job, but for some reason, devices must be set up manually. Samsung sent a SmartThings electrical outlet and multipurpose sensor for review, but Connect Home was unable to automatically scan and detect the devices. Once manually configured, though, both performed as expected with quick response times from the app.

Overall the Samsung Connect Home successfully combines home networking and smart home control in a single, compact hub – a real technical achievement. But this convenience comes with compromises and quirks that can cause frustration when using.

Strong wireless coverage, weak mesh networking speeds

We placed three hubs around a four-floor, 2500 square foot home. The main hub was positioned next to the cable modem in a second-floor bedroom. One satellite hub was placed a floor above in the attic, while the third was installed two floors below, in a basement where Wi-Fi coverage is patchy.

At short range, Connect Home performs really well. Average wired speeds of 893 Mbps and 385 Mbps are very good for this class of device. The Samsung Connect Pro boosted wireless speeds by 30 percent, with the average hitting an impressive 498 Mbps.

Whole Home Wi-Fi Systems Ethernet Speeds

Model
Average Ethernet Speed (Mbps)
Linksys Velop
943
Samsung Connect Home
893
NETGEAR Orbi
858
Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi HD
802
Eero (1st Gen)
761
Google WiFi
754

Test Clients: 2 x Intel NUC Core i5 PCs 

Whole Home Wi-Fi Systems Short Range Wireless Speeds

Model
Average Short Range Speed (Mbps)
Samsung Connect Home Pro
498
Samsung Connect Home
385
Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi HD
364
NETGEAR Orbi
337
Google WiFi
297
Linksys Velop
159
Eero (1st Gen)
156

Test Client: MacBook Air with D-Link DWA-192 AC1900 USB Adapter plus Intel NUC Core i5 PC

Wandering around the house with a Microsoft Surface Pro 4, the Samsung Connect Home was able to sustain a strong connection in both the attic and basement, but mesh networking speeds were less impressive. Average speeds of 181 Mbps close to main hub in the bedroom dropped to 61 Mbps in the basement and just 41 Mbps in the attic. As I usually struggle to receive a Wi-Fi signal in the basement, Samsung’s debut certainly offered a boost, but speeds were behind competing systems.

Whole Home Wi-Fi Systems Long Range Mesh Wireless Speeds (Wireless Backhaul)

Model
Average Mesh Wireless Speeds (Mbps)
 
Bedroom (Main)
Attic (Sub 1)
Basement (Sub 2)
NETGEAR Orbi
322
217
228
Linksys Velop
309
250
163
Google WiFi
285
123
90
Ubiquiti Labs AmpliFi HD
216
157
59
Eero (1st Gen)
211
67
82
Samsung Connect Home
181
44
61

Test Client: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 plus Intel NUC Core i5 PC 

Like some other whole home Wi-Fi systems, Connect Home’s performance can be bolstered by connecting the satellite hubs to a wired network, reducing wireless congestion. Doing so accelerated speeds up to 80 percent but, given the low base, it wasn’t enough to stand out.

Warranty information

Samsung Connect Home and Connect Home Pro are supplied with a limited, one-year warranty.

Our Take

Samsung Connect Home successfully combines whole home Wi-Fi and smart device control in an attractive, compact hub with smartphone app control. It’s a brave technical challenge that Samsung delivers with reasonable success, but frustrations with device configuration, weaknesses in the Samsung Connect app and mesh network speeds well behind competitors prevent us from giving the system a full endorsement.

Is there a better alternative?

With a slew of whole home Wi-Fi systems hitting the market over the last twelve months, you can find high-performing mesh networking kits available for a range of budgets, although none offer the convenience of true smart home device control like Samsung Connect Home.

At $399 and $499 respectively, NETGEAR Orbi and Linksys Velop remain top picks on performance although you’re paying top dollar for the best network speeds and that’s before you add a $99 SmartThings Hub into the mix.

While not hitting the same heights on performance, the $299 Google WiFi and $289 TP-Link Deco systems offer great value with smooth smartphone app controls and great looking hubs.

How long will it last?

Samsung Connect Home embodies an experimental new product category for the company and, as such, we’d be a little concerned about the sustainability of this product line.

That said, Samsung’s developers are pushing out firmware updates with enhanced features and fixes while the company is heavily marketing the products in big box retailers so, in the short term, things look good.

Should you buy it?

If your current router is creaking under the weight of proprietary smart home hubs and you’re happy to ride the rollercoaster of firmware updates to fix hiccups, Samsung Connect Home offers real convergence if not the best performance.

At this point, however, you might be better off sticking with a whole home Wi-Fi system from an established networking brand and adding the excellent SmartThings hub.

Pros and cons of building your own VR backpack

Why would you want to build your own VR backpack? To save money and move freely!

One of the first issues we came across with the HTC Vive was the cable that follows you around the room, potentially tripping you up or pulling on the headset when you’ve taken time to get a perfect fit. While mainstream wireless VR systems are seemingly somewhere around the corner, some PC manufacturers have taken it upon themselves to create the next best thing: VR backpacks.

The cable running from your PC to your headset is no longer a problem, and immersion is taken one step further. Unfortunately, these backpacks are usually prohibitively expensive, and, besides, you might already have the hardware needed to create your own. Is it possible? Is it worth the time? Let’s find out!

Read more at VRHeads!