Sony patents detail VR motion controller concepts

Earlier this week, the eagle-eyed VR Focus caught wind of two patents filed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, which look suspiciously like motion controllers. It’s too early to tell whether these are our first looks at an entirely new one for PlayStation VR. But it’s been eight years since the Move controllers first hit the market, so these may inform the design of the models Sony eventually develops to follow up on its aging VR wands.

The first patent includes figures that look like a vertical grip controller with a thumbstick at the top, buttons splayed out on top of that, and a trigger on the other side nestled under the index finger. A hand strap pokes out over the side, but it’s the guts of the controller that show promise: Interlocking gears under the ‘grip’ expand and contract to give immersive feedback ‘capable of imparting a tactile sense to a user,” according to the patent.

The other patent is for tracking a user’s individual finger placement solely using the head mounted display (HMD), i.e. a headset. This would work differently than the current PSVR setup, which uses the PlayStation Camera to follow the position of Move controllers. In other words, we’d need a new HMD to take advantage of this design.

Whether these make it into a future Sony VR setup is anyone’s guess, but it’s worth noting that PSVR is leading the nascent high-end VR gaming market with over 2 million units sold.

Via: VR Focus

Source: IP Force patent No. 2018-735, IP Force patent No. 2018-500674

Study says e-cigarettes may lead to cancer and heart disease

Regulators may have had a change of heart about the danger of using e-cigarettes, but scientists would beg to differ. A newly published New York University School of Medicine study indicates that vaping may put you at a “higher risk” of cancer and heart disease. Mice subjected to the equivalent of “light” e-cigarette smoking for 10 years (12 weeks in reality) suffered DNA damage to their bladders, hearts and lungs, in addition to limiting both DNA repair and lung proteins. In short: nicotine can become a carcinogen in your body regardless of how it’s transmitted.

The study isn’t completely shocking when researchers have identified other harmful chemicals. And it’s not conclusive, either. While the testing shows that e-cigarettes are harmful, the highly compressed smoking exposure is far from what you’d see in real life — tumors don’t grow that quickly. You may not see more definitive results until additional animal testing in a year, and much longer than that for humans. Study author Moon-shong Tang also noted to Bloomberg that it’s not clear whether conventional cigarettes or e-cigarettes would be more harmful.

Still, the data casts doubt on the often-repeated claims that vaping is a safer alternative to cigarettes. While there have been studies suggesting that e-cigs are probably less harmful, this indicates that you’re still facing some of the same dangers. Any ‘safety’ may come from the level of exposure. The findings also support bids to regulate e-cigarettes based on their tobacco-like effects, such as the FDA’s former approach.

Via: Bloomberg

Source: PNAS

Lenovo’s fingerprint manager left passwords vulnerable

A slew of Lenovo devices have left users’ systems vulnerable to a breach. Fingerprint Manager Pro software installed on any of some three dozen ThinkPad, ThinkCentre or ThinkStation devices apparently features weak encryption that allows someone to bypass the fingerprint scanner and take advantage of a hardcoded password in order to gain access to the system. It also exposes users’ logon credentials and fingerprint data. Lenovo described the vulnerability in a security update and released a patch for the bug last week.

There is some good news. The software was only used on devices running Windows 7, 8 and 8.1. Windows 10 didn’t require the software, so systems using it won’t need an update. Also, the vulnerability couldn’t be exploited via the internet, only with local access, which limits users’ exposure quite a bit.

The patch was released on the 25th. You can get it here along with more information and a list of the affected devices.

Via: Gizmodo

Source: Lenovo

What is a ‘Game of the Year’ edition, anyway?

Every year, game publishers put out Game of the Year editions, typically chock full of all the downloadable content that’s come out since the initial release along with new packaging to proclaim its “of the year” status. Some titles even get new content to entice customers into buying an older game.

But what, exactly, does it mean to be a Game of the Year? And according to who exactly? Is there a regulating body that protects consumers from games that were not, in fact, that good? You might think of the “Game of the Year” term as an implication of quality, right? It turns out that — like most marketing — it’s largely meaningless. And countless gaming outlets name their own “Games of the Year,” further confusing things.

Even more confoundingly, The Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences (AIAS) hands out its own award to a title, regardless of platform, that best entertains users. The AIAS award isn’t the one you’ll see on a Game of the Year Edition, though. “The award honors the single title that captured the hearts and minds of the global game community and distinguished it as the best of the best,” AIAS president Meggan Scavio told Engadget in an email. “To be even more specific, it could be due to impressive storytelling, technological innovation that really impacts the future of game design or even immersive world building that awes our membership,” she said.

The AIAS Game of the Year award is like a seal of approval or badge of quality, says Scavio. It’s like an Oscar or Emmy, only for video games. That’s what publishers want you to think of when you’re buying a repackaged Game of the Year Edition, of course. These products may indeed have received an official Game of the Year award from organizations like AIAS, but they just as likely may have been named such by a random website or journalist.

It’s hard to take the concept of a Game of the Year Edition seriously when mediocre titles like Operation Flashpoint and AFL Live get these editions in years where there are far better games on the market, like Grand Theft Auto III and The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, respectively.

Case Study: Dead Island

When Dead Island was released in 2011 after a hefty delay, one of the only outlets that gave it any attention was GameCritics. “The game was troubled by releasing too early before it was ready for prime time,” the site’s EIC Brad Gallaway told Engadget in an email, “and it left a lot of reviewers with a very bad taste in their mouths, (which) was understandable. We played a more finished version later on and we really loved it. In fact, we named our game of the year.”

Gallaway said that the site got a lot of heat for the pick, but that he still stands by the choice. “I think that eventually we were proved correct because it had an incredibly successful run with fans despite the trouncing reviewers gave it,” he said.

Shortly thereafter, Dead Island‘s PR team got a hold of GameCritics and said they wanted to work together to promote a Game of the Year Edition repackage. “We were the only website on earth that gave it top honors from what I understand,” said Gallaway. “We were happy to oblige and we had talked about doing a contest, giving away a bunch of copies, and all that sort of stuff.”

That’s the last Gallaway recalls talking to anyone from Dead Island. The Game of the Year Edition did end up on retail shelves, though, but GameCritics was not credited on the packaging. “My guess is that PR didn’t realize how much of a joke people thought we were for choosing the game,” he said. “They probably didn’t think our website had enough cred to slap our name on the box, although they were still using our endorsement to justify this edition.”

Which means that, at least in this case, publishers wanted an actual “Game of the Year” designation from an actual outlet, even if they didn’t admit which one on the packaging. “That’s pretty much where it ends,” Gallaway said. “PR never brought up the subject with us again and they never responded to our requests for clarification about the situation, or about crediting us on the box. Kind of sucks that these guys got to put the label on their product and sold a ton more copies, while we got ridiculed and couldn’t even get credit where credit was due.”

Definitive Editions as a sidestep

We spoke with indie game developer Mike Bithell (Thomas Was Alone, Subsurface Circular) about his perspective on releasing Game of the Year Editions. While Bithell has sold repackaged boxed editions of his games, they’ve never been called “Game of the Year,” mostly because he hates tooting his own horn. “We’re often perhaps too modest in hyping our own games,” he said during a phone call, “but a boxed definitive edition, with included DLC and such, can really help our games get out to a new audience.”

Digital-first games like the ones Bithell makes tend to get purchased by gamers with Steam or other services like it. Packaging them into a physical copy — whether its a collector’s edition or just a repackaged “definitive” edition — helps find customers who might only buy games at Walmart or GameStop.

Publishers get more exposure for a game this way, too, and customers get a more complete game that includes DLC they don’t actually have to download. “I love being able to call a game finished (with a definitive boxed edition) so I can move on to the next,” said Bithell.

The final cut

Ultimately, titles that get Game of the Year Editions may or may not be very good. Even while most of these repackaged titles have been legitimately named a Game of the Year, you never know who made that decision. While the AIAS provides specific artwork for games it’s given its own award to, not all publishers are going to back up their claim with proper credit. Sure, you’ll get some fun extras for the game that might have cost extra if purchased nearer to the actual release, but it may or may not be truly worthy of the Game of the Year moniker.

‘Robotic Habitats’ imagines a self-sustaining AI ecosystem

As artificial intelligence advances at an unprecedented pace, we tend to see its arrival in emotional terms — usually, either excitement or fear. But Noumena, a collective of designers, engineers and architects, is looking at AI and robots more practically. What form will they take, how will they survive and develop, and where will they live? It aims to explore those idea with an exhibition entitled “Robotic Habitats.”

Noumena’s project assumes that deep learning systems will grow out of their narrow Go-playing abilities and soon match humans at many, if not most, tasks. While that would put them on par with us, it doesn’t mean they would live the same way, though. “Society will need to develop a framework for both to thrive,” explains Neumena on its website. “A new form of artificial life will emerge, finding space at the peripheries of humanity in order to not compete for human-dominated resources.”

In order to imagine what this AI society might be like, Noumena first needed to design the robots themselves, so they created rovers that are part biologic and part artificial. They have DC motors, an Arduino main board, and Kinect motion sensors to guide their movements. On the “nose” is a peristaltic pump that can inject material stored in a central “spine” into the sandy landscape.

The external, 3D-printed tortoise-like skin has a slightly creepy Alien vibe, but there’s a reason for the grooves. They harbor mycelium, a fungus material made up of bacteria colonies that will allow the robots to “grow.” It also feeds energy to the motors, gears and electronics that are embedded in the bots’ frames.

The robots can then head out into the 16 x 16 foot sandy terrain, based on a 3D map created from the Kinect sensor from previous excursions, and inject mycelium into the environment. That forms a network of lines consisting of bacteria and aggregating material, creating a bizarre landscape that is artificial and biological at once. It’s then collected by central, pod-like columns, which use the materials to fabricate new rovers, making the whole thing self-sustaining.

The installation is meant to be thought-provoking, showing that machines may not live in a gleaming Matrix-like world, but rather “a natural landscape robotically manipulated,” Noumena explains. At the same time, similar technology might be necessary for machines that go to Mars and other worlds, paving the way for humans to arrive.

Noumena figures that this robot society would “trigger the need for robots to evolve into different species, each performing specific tasks.” That in turn will create an even more advanced infrastructure, that guarantees the whole thing will continue. The final result? “A new robotic habitat shaped by autonomous species driven by hidden, inaccessible forces.”

Source: Noumena, Design Boom

Americans are using less energy by staying at home

Americans are using less energy — paradoxically, by spending more time indoors, according to a new study in the journal Joule. But researchers point out that keeping more lights on was offset by lifestyle changes that kept people inside instead of roaming around offices and retail stores — like, say, online shopping and working from home. Despite energy consumption worldwide increasing every year, this slight uptick in American hermitage reduced national energy demand by 1.8 percent over a year.

Via: The Verge

Source: ‘Changes in Time Use and Their Effect on Energy Consumption in the United States’ — Joule

Razer Phone now streams Netflix in all its HDR glory

Looks like Razer’s latest update for its first smartphone should be worth installing. The new software enables support for Netflix HDR videos as well as Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound, so you can better immerse yourself in your favorite fictional universe. This makes the Razer Phone one of a handful of smartphones available that can render the streaming giant’s HDR content, and the first to offer both HDR10 and Dolby Digital 5.1 support.

That’s thanks to the handset’s 5.7-inch Sharp IGZO display, which our senior editor Chris Velazco found gorgeous in his review. The Razer Phone’s 120Hz refresh rate will also make for smooth playback, although not many games can take advantage of that yet.

According to Razer’s tweet, the update will also improve the camera and theme store, as well as deliver a security patch for January. All told, if you own a Razer Phone, this is clearly a download to look out for.

Source: Razer (Twitter)

How to find an online match fast in ‘Dragon Ball FighterZ’

Dragon Ball FighterZ is now available, and it’s a stylish and action-packed fighting game that is packed with ridiculous attention to detail. Unfortunately, developer Arc System Works might have taken this authenticity a little bit too far, as you often have to wait an eternity before squaring off against other players online. Even though high server loads, poor connections, and matchmaking issues can impede your ability to play, there are a few different tricks you can use to make the wait bearable. We have some tips on how to find online matches quickly in Dragon Ball FighterZ.

Pick the right lobby

When you first start up Dragon Ball FighterZ, the game will attempt to put you in an “auto-join” lobby with 63 other players. Chances are if you get hung up on the “connect to lobby” for more than a few seconds, you will eventually receive a connection failure notification, and will be forced to find a lobby manually.

When this occurs, pick the region closest to where you live, and choose from the numerous lobbies available. Many will already be at full capacity, but if you see one with between 55 and 60 players, this is usually a good option. More players mean more matches, after all.

If you are interested in joining a particular type of online match, you can also choose a lobby specifically for  “ring matches” or “arena matches.” At the very least, this will ensure you can find players trying to engage in the same match type.

Lastly, if you pick a lobby and it doesn’t work or disconnects you after a few minutes, just move on to the next one. If you select it again, you will likely get the same result.

Open your search parameters

Dragon Ball FighterZ gives you a few different search parameters when you’re queuing up for a multiplayer match. Once the servers stabilize and Arc System Works manages to iron out the issues, these will be useful for finding good match-ups, but at the moment, they are limiting who you can fight against.

When you’re choosing a ranked, casual, or ring match, make sure “connection quality” is set to “anything goes,” as well as “match completion rate.” Multiplayer matches typically only last a few minutes, and we haven’t encountered too many players who are willing to quit. There is also an option in your settings to automatically join any connected multiplayer match, which makes sure you aren’t disconnected by an impatient player.

Struggling to find a ranked multiplayer match? Try searching for a casual match, instead. Occasionally, these will be more popular, or vice-versa, though casual matches won’t earn you “BP” points with each fight.

Search around the lobby

Instead of exclusively playing in ranked or casual matches, consider fighting against players in your current lobby. There are two different options for doing this online: Ring matches and arena matches.

Ring matches are customized fights between players in a lobby that can be set up nearly anywhere — just press RT on Xbox One or R2 on PlayStation 4 to place a ring down. You’ll often find other players place rings down, as well, and the total number of current players in their ring will be listed above their head. If it’s not full, you will likely be able to connect and fight them immediately, but they will often be far above your skill level.

Your other option for quickly finding a match is to check out the arena located in the middle of the lobby. Here, you can queue up to fight in an arena match or watch others duke it out. It takes a bit longer than a standard casual or ranked match, but should you not have any luck with those options, you will usually still be able to fight someone in the arena.

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• Ring Spotlight Cam Wired review

Sony LF-S50G smart speaker review: A solid Google Home alternative

The options for Alexa- and Google Assistant–powered speakers have exploded, as evidenced by companies adding voice control to any and every device at the last two CESes. As is typically the case when pretty much everyone hops on a bandwagon, there’s some good and a lot of bad. The concept of voice control is still new to a lot of people, so when they do splurge for that first device, it had better work right. Sony’s LF-S50G harnesses the smarts of Google Assistant to do just that, but it’s far from perfect.

Sony isn’t known for clever product names, opting instead for a seemingly arbitrary mix of letters and numbers most of the time. That’s obviously the case here with the LF-S50G. Announced back at IFA, the company’s first smart speaker is comparable in size to the original Google Home but noticeably smaller than the Sonos One (and Play:1). It’s short and compact, taking up a minimal amount of space on your countertop, desk or nightstand. Like much of its competition, the LF-S50G is a 360-degree speaker that blasts sound in every direction.

Most of the outside is a cloth-mesh speaker cover, save for the polished-chrome base. Sony realizes that you’re likely to keep the LF-S50G in the kitchen, so that cover can be removed for cleaning, in case you splash tomato sauce on it while cooking. The speaker itself also has an IPX3 splash-proof rating, so you don’t have to worry about the occasional water spray or spill — just don’t submerge it and you should be fine. One design element that’s kind of unique to the LF-S50G is a clock on the front. The stacked numerals may not be your first preference for a timepiece, but at least you don’t have to ask out loud for the time. It’s not a necessity, but it’s a nice touch, and for me it meant having the option of using the speaker as a true alarm clock.

The initial setup itself is a breeze, thanks to the Google Home app. I had everything up and running in about five minutes. In terms of onboard controls, primary adjustments on the LF-S50G are done with touch-free gestures on the top panel. You hold your hand over the top and, following specific movements, you can adjust the volume, play/pause, skip songs or summon Google Assistant. It sounds good on paper, but these gesture controls were a source of constant frustration. First, it can be difficult to get them to work on the first attempt. I often found myself doing the same movement three or four times (in some cases, more than that) before the speaker got the hint.

More often than not, I just used my voice and had Google Assistant make the adjustments for me. After a few days, though, I did find that actually placing a finger on the top of the LF-S50G before starting the circular motion that’s used to control volume helped. Basically, if you treat the top like a touch ring or dial, Sony’s speaker does a better job of picking up on what you’re trying to do. When it works, it’s great. But the company is advertising “touch-free gestures,” and, for me, they just weren’t reliable.

The only physical buttons on the LF-S50G are around back. There you’ll find options for Bluetooth and turning off the microphone on either side of the power jack, on that shiny silver base. It’s nice that Bluetooth is there, but I only ever used it to make sure it works. Since Google Assistant needs a WiFi connection to work, I mostly employed the LF-S50G to control external Chromecast-enabled devices like… well, a Chromecast and other connected speakers. Of course, you can link your music service account as well, so you really don’t need to beam audio from a phone or computer except in a handful of cases.

Since voice control is what makes the LF-S50G more than just another connected speaker from Sony, that key selling point has to work well. I’m happy to report it does. After spending a few weeks with the device, my gripes with the voice feature entirely have to do with the limitations of Google Assistant. It can’t tell me what channel the Hornets game was on, for example, but it can give me a full list of the day’s games. That’s a question Assistant can’t answer, but Siri can. However, Sony’s smart speaker always accepted my commands, even when it was playing music or there was other noise in the room — I didn’t have to repeat myself to get the point across. Even if I didn’t always get the answer I wanted.

The likes of Amazon Echo and Google Home have visual indicators to let you know the virtual assistant is listening or responding to your query. Sony’s LF-S50G does as well. Four white dots, located just above the clock on the front, light up when you’re speaking a command. And when Google Assistant is responding, all four are lit up together. I’d say 80 percent of the time I wasn’t looking at the speaker when asking it for help, which is kind of the whole point anyway. There’s also a ring of white light around the top that illuminates when you use the gesture controls and the clock numerals switch to volume level when you’re turning that imaginary knob.

Sony beats the Echo in terms of sound quality, as well as the original Google Home. The company has a long history in audio gear, so it’s no surprise its first smart speaker sounds pretty good. Let me be clear: Good doesn’t mean great. This speaker sounds best at medium volume, where it has a good amount of bass and the highs are kept in check. Dial it up to louder levels and the treble starts to take over. There’s no distortion, but the audio isn’t nearly as balanced. Some genres sound better than others — mostly due to the lack of low-end tone. That issue isn’t unique to this device, though. A lot of these compact smart speakers can’t muster enough bass, and as a result, sound quality struggles.

Sony’s LF-S50G alongside the Sonos Play:1

Billy Steele/Engadget

Even though the tone range may not be the best, the LF-S50G makes up for it with clarity. Again, that’s best showcased at medium volume. When I cranked up my go-to playlist for testing audio quality (a mix of metal, rock, bluegrass, electronic, hip-hop and more), some of the detail was missing if the music was loud. As far as I’m concerned, these two audio grumbles aren’t deal breakers. Let’s face it: You’re probably not going to use one of these to power a house party. Google Assistant is the main attraction, but it doesn’t hurt that the speaker also has decent audio — even with its caveats.

While Sony’s smart speaker does sound better than some other Alexa and Google Assistant devices, Sonos is still tops in terms of audio quality. Sure, the Sonos One works only with Alexa right now, but when the speaker debuted, the company promised that support for Google Assistant was on the way. What’s more, the LF-S50G costs the same as the Sonos One ($199), so if you can hold off, you won’t have to pay extra for better sound quality. There’s still no arrival date for Assistant on Sonos One; the company says it won’t get more specific than “in 2018.” It is coming, though, and when it does, Sonos will have one of the best-sounding Google Assistant speakers available — perhaps outperformed only by the $400 Google Home Max. However, the likes of B&O and Klipsch have announced plans to include Google Assistant on future devices, so it’s in Sonos’ best interest to support a second virtual assistant as soon as possible to cater to the Google faithful.

If audio quality isn’t your primary concern, the second-gen Echo and regular Google Home are both cheaper than the LF-S50G, at $100 and $129, respectively. The Echo Plus is also cheaper than Sony’s smart speaker, at $150, but as my colleague Devindra Hardawar noted in his review, improved sound quality and a smart home hub doesn’t make it that much better than the original Echo. As I mentioned before, Sony does a respectable job here with audio, and is noticeably better than the base-model Echo and Google Home. If you’re after something that sounds better, you’ll be glad you spent the extra money on an LF-S50G or Sonos One.

Aside from the somewhat unreliable gesture controls, I have no major gripes with Sony’s smart speaker. Sure, there were some minor frustrations, but some of those issues are Google Assistant–related (like the channel question) and some are just the shortcomings of virtual assistants in general. They’re helpful, but they can’t answer every question you throw at them… yet. The LF-S50G is compact and has an unassuming but attractive design, so it should blend in well on a shelf or sitting on your kitchen counter. For $70 more than Google Home, Sony does offer better audio, a premium I’m happy to pay for. Sure, the Sonos One will offer better sound quality for the same price when the company adds Google Assistant. Right now, though, we don’t know when that will be. That being said, if you’re ready to commit now, Sony’s smart speaker is a worthy alternative to Google’s gear, even with its shortcomings.

NASA will stream Wednesday’s rare blue moon lunar eclipse

On Wednesday, parts of the US will get to view a very special lunar eclipse. While typical lunar eclipses aren’t terribly rare — the next full one viewable from North America will occur in January 2019 — this one combines a total eclipse with a supermoon and a blue moon, making it a sort of moon event triple threat. While not all of the US will get to see the entire eclipse, NASA will be televising it online and giving views from California and Arizona.

A supermoon occurs when the moon reaches the part of its orbit that comes closest to Earth, making it appear around 14 percent brighter, while a blue moon is the second full moon of the month. These three events lining up at the same time makes this lunar eclipse particularly notable.

Hawaii, Alaska and the West Coast will get to see the eclipse in full. But those in Mountain, Central and Eastern time will only get to view the beginning of the eclipse since the moon will begin dipping below the horizon before it’s fully completed. The full event will take over four hours and the moon will be fully eclipsed by Earth’s shadow for around an hour and 16 minutes. NASA will show views from its Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles and the Mt. Lemmon SkyCenter Observatory at the University of Arizona. Coverage will begin at 5:30AM Eastern time and you can check it out here.

Image: NASA

Source: NASA