Magic Leap finally unveils ‘goggles’ with wireless processing, tracking

Magic Leap has, after years of teases and promises, unveiled its augmented reality headset to the world and it looks much more like the “goggles” moniker so commonly used to refer to other head-mounted displays. Featuring inside-out tracking, and wireless operation and processing, its claimed abilities could make it the most advanced AR device ever created.

Alongside Microsoft’s Hololens headset, the Magic Leap has been a device that’s been talked about for years. While Microsoft’s device did eventually make it into the hands of developers some time ago, though, it’s only now we’re getting our first look at the Magic Leap headset. We still don’t have a hard release date or pricing information, but its feature set will have AR fans salivating at its potential.

The purpose behind the Magic Leap is to blend the real and virtual worlds more than ever before. While other augmented reality headsets have lacked resolution and real-life presence, the Magic Leap headset is said to be capable of creating “lifelike digital objects” that coexist in the real world. As well as detecting your physical location and rotation, the headset can pick up surfaces, planes, and objects, allowing for a digital remodeling of them, thereby having digital objects actually interact with the physical world.

That augmented view will be customizable, letting you create and mount your own virtual displays wherever you want and have digital objects continue to interact with the world even when you’re not looking at them. The headset is said to leverage technology to allow for natural object processing by the wearer’s brain, making the headset comfortable to wear for long periods of time. As for audio, the Magic Leap is said to mimic the real world to provide distance and intensity mapping so that sounds feel as real as the visuals.

All of the augmented features can be interacted with using a broad range of input options, including voice, gestures, and the wireless remote controller.

Although we don’t know specifics on the internal hardware, we’re told that it’s as powerful as a “laptop computer.” That may mean we’re not talking the kind of visuals you would expect on a high-end desktop, but it’s certainly powerful enough to recreate some singular items that look pretty and somewhat realistic. If you’re wondering why there’s so little information available about the new device, it’s very much on purpose: Magic Leap requires that developers literally lock their developer units away in safes as part of generally strict security policies, Bloomberg reports.

All of this is just the beginning. As the official Magic Leap site states, this is just “day one.” The headset itself will launch at some point in 2018, with a “Creator Portal” debuting earlier in the year. That will allow early-access developers working with the bare-bones “Creator Editon” to create the software to make Magic Leap applications that really open up its potential.

Updated on April 2: Added information regarding Magic Leap’s high security.

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NASA’s next planet hunter is ready to find undiscovered worlds

The search for extraterrestrial life is about to get serious, as the U.S. space agency announced in a statement this week. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has completed all certifications and is currently undergoing final preparations for an April 16 launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Initially slated for a two-year mission, TESS will ascend to an elliptical 13.7-day orbit around the Earth. It’s a unique and extreme orbit that’s never been used before, varying as close as 67,000 miles and as far away as 232,000 miles from its home planet. According to Space.com, the stable orbit will allow TESS to stay in space for decades without any need for course corrections.

Outfitted with four wide-angle cameras, TESS will be able to observe 85 percent of the surrounding sky as it looks for exoplanets. The instruments on the spacecraft will map 26 different “sectors” of the sky over a two-year period.

Specifically, TESS will be looking for a phenomenon called a “transit,” which is when a planet passes in front of its star. The resulting decrease in brightness can be observed and measured with spectroscopy, giving astronomers a better idea of the size and composition of the planet.

NASA

“TESS is opening a door for a whole new kind of study,” said Stephen Rinehart at Goddard Space Flight Center. “We’re going to be able study individual planets and start talking about the differences between planets. The targets TESS finds are going to be fantastic subjects for research for decades to come.”

TESS is replacing the aging Kepler telescope, which is running on fumes and will soon be unable to maneuver. Unlike TESS, Kepler is in a solar orbit and can only make observations in one direction. “TESS will cast a wider net than ever before for enigmatic worlds whose properties can be probed by NASA’s upcoming James Webb Space Telescope and other missions,” said Paul Hertz of NASA.

Kepler used the same methods to discover more than 2,600 exoplanets, but it was always observing the same area of space and most of the planets were more than a thousand light-years away. TESS will set its sights on more nearby stars that are within 300 light-years of Earth.

The discoveries made by TESS may invite further study with the upcoming $8.8 billion James Webb Telescope planned for launch in 2020. “With those larger telescopes, we’ll be able to look for telltale signs in the atmospheres of those planets that might tell us what the planets are made of, and perhaps even whether they have the kinds of gases in their atmospheres that, on Earth, are an indication of life,” Hertz said at a news conference.

TESS may even moonlight at times to investigate other cosmic phenomenon it encounters besides exoplanets. Researchers will be invited to use the spacecraft as part of a “guest investigator” program, NASA said.

“I don’t think we know everything TESS is going to accomplish,” Rinehart added. “To me, the most exciting part of any mission is the unexpected result, the one that nobody saw coming.”

Editors’ Recommendations

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Hackers could attack 1 million websites in a content management system flaw

A vulnerability discovered in a popular content management system could leave nearly 1 million websites open to attack if left unpatched. The developers behind the content management system, Drupal, label the issue as “highly critical” because the vulnerability enables various attack points and could grant hackers complete control of a website. The vulnerability exists within Drupal 6.x, Drupal 7.x, and Drupal 8.x.  

A content management system is the backbone of a website. It’s a database that stores and manage all digital input, including articles, images, photos, and more. Most content management system layouts provide a friendly interface for inserting content along with the necessary search engine optimization fields to get the resulting webpage noticed on Google, Yahoo, Bing, and so on. 

Drupal is just one of many content management systems to manage pages and media across a website. A few other systems include WordPress, Joomla, and Kentico while many websites simply rely on an in-house content management system for the highest level of customization and security.  

Jasper Mattsson of development house Druid found the vulnerability in Drupal, dubbed as SA-CORE-2018-002, as part of Drupal’s routine security examination. The Drupal team doesn’t go into specifics but merely state that hackers could compromise a Drupal-based site. So far, there is no known exploit to take advantage of this vulnerability, thus site-based sabotage is merely theoretical for now. 

Based on the company’s in-house scoring system, here is what the vulnerability covers: 

• All non-public data is accessible
• All data can be modified or deleted
• Default or common module configurations are exploitable, but a config change can disable the exploit 

“Note on the last point that while a configuration change can theoretically mitigate the issue, it would have to be a drastic configuration change,” the Drupal team states. “The Security Team strongly recommends that the best solution is for sites to upgrade.” 

Finally, here is  Drupal’s update schedule to fix the vulnerability: 

Version 

Status 

Solution 

Drupal 6.x 

End of Life 

Contact a D6LTS vendor 

Drupal 7.x 

Active 

Upgrade to Drupal 7.58 or
install this patch. 

Drupal 8.3.x 

Not supported 

Upgrade to Drupal 8.3.9 or
install this patch. 

Drupal 8.4.x 

Not supported 

Upgrade to Drupal 8.4.6 or
install this patch. 

Drupal 8.5.x 

Active 

Upgrade to Drupal 8.5.1 or
install this patch. 

 “Drupal 8.3.x and 8.4.x are no longer supported and we don’t normally provide security releases for unsupported minor releases,” the team adds. “However, given the potential severity of this issue, we are providing 8.3.x and 8.4.x releases that includes the fix for sites which have not yet had a chance to update to 8.5.0.” 

According to BuiltWith, 37 percent of the websites using a content management system rely on WordPress followed by Drupal at nine percent and Google’s Search Appliance at three percent. The stats also show that Drupal powers 928,443 sites while WordPress backs 19,883,677 websites, or 5.3 percent of the entire internet, as of April 2.

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‘Pokémon Go’ adds legendary monsters Latias and Latios

Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Pokémon Go players looking to test their squad’s skills against new competition now have the chance, as two new legendary Pokémon have arrived to the game’s raid battles.

Latias and Latios, originally from the third-generation games Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, are flying Pokémon with dragon-type and psychic-type abilities. You will have to travel the world (or wait) if you hope to fight both. While Latias will appear in Europe and Asia, Latios will appear in North America, South America, and Africa. The Pokémon will then swap spots on May 8 until the conclusion of the event on June 5.

“Drawn to compassionate spirits, the Eon Pokémon Latias and Latios are known for being highly intelligent, and are able to communicate telepathically with humans,” developer Niantic said. “They are also stealthy and extremely fast in flight — with Latias able to use its down to refract light to make itself invisible and Latios able to overtake jet planes.”

We nope their telepathic abilities were left out of their Pokémon Go appearance, as the last thing we need is for imaginary monsters to start talking to us in our sleep.

Until now, players could also challenge the monster Lugia, who appeared in Pokémon Silver, and third-generation monsters Kyogre, Groudon, and Rayquaza were available the previous month.

Niantic recently had some other substantially less fun issues it had to deal with. Following last summer’s disastrous Pokémon Go Fest in Chicago, the company was hit with a class-action lawsuit from players who had spent money traveling to the event. Niantic settled for more than $1.5 million, and those who attended should be receiving a letter informing them of the payout soon.

In addition to its continued work on Pokémon Go, Niantic is also developing the mobile game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. Like its previous work, the game will use elements of augmented reality, but it won’t be replacing Pokémon Go. In fact, Niantic is planning to further expand the game’s development team in order to add more features. Hopefully at least one of those features will be the ability to battle other trainers, which fans have been requesting for nearly two years.

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‘Fortnite’ is now available for free to all iOS users, coming to Android soon

Epic Games’ smash-hit game Fortnite recently came to iOS devices via a closed beta test, but it wasn’t available to the general public. That changed today, as Fortnite is now available for free to all iOS users — provided your device is new enough.

As long as you’re using an iPhone SE, iPhone 6S, or newer model phone, you will be able to run Fortnite. The game does not support older phones, including both the iPhone 6 and the 6 Plus, so you will finally need to make an upgrade if you have your heart set on playing the game while on the go. The game hasn’t yet arrived for Android devices, but it will be doing so “within the next few months,” according to the game’s website.

Fortnite on mobile devices offers the exact same Fortnite: Battle Royale experience you get on consoles and PC, but with touchscreen controls. They are quite similar to the virtual thumbsticks and buttons in PUBG Mobile, with dedicated options for aiming your weapon, crouching, and jumping.

The main difference between the mobile version of Fortnite and PUBG Mobile, however, is that Fortnite supports cross-play with other platforms. Whether your friends are playing on PC, Mac, Xbox One, or PlayStation 4, you will be able to play with them — and get destroyed. Any progress you made in the other versions will also transfer over to the mobile game. The only platforms that cannot play with each other are Xbox One and PlayStation, though this was very briefly enabled in 2017 by mistake.

The mobile game looks almost identical to its big siblings, with a smooth framerate and great draw distance for scoping our where to land from your parachute. The footage included in the launch trailer was captured on an iPhone X, but we tested the game on an iPhone 8 and found it to run with similar results.

Fortnite is now available for iOS, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac. The “Battle Royale” mode is free, while access to the original player-versus-environment content is available via a paid “Founder’s Pack.” Only Battle Royale is available on iOS. Its main competition, PUBG Mobile, available for free on both iOS and Android right now, as well.

Editors’ Recommendations

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Mid-range Pixel phone part of Alphabet’s plan to break into emerging markets

Alphabet, the part company of Google, may be following the lead of Samsung, Apple, and other smartphone manufacturers. According to The Economic Times, the tech giant is rumored to be developing a mid-range Pixel smartphone specifically for emerging markets like India.

Alphabet’s latest move is a no-brainer: India is the second-largest smartphone market in the world in terms of the total number of users. While the country means big opportunity for any device manufacturer, the majority of smartphones sold in India fall firmly into budget and mid-range territory. Since the country has a per capita income of only $1,670, many Indians opt-out of purchasing flagship devices like the Pixel 2 or Samsung Galaxy S9.

While there are not a lot of details on the rumored mid-range Pixel, The Economic Times does suggest we will see the device in July or August. The same story states third-generation Pixel smartphones will likely be released around Diwali (November).

In addition to a mid-range Pixel, it looks as if Google may release a slew of products to India and other emerging markets throughout the year. According to The Economic Times, the company wants to aggressively pursue these emerging markets and plans to release its Pixelbook, Google Home, Google Home Mini, and a number of other Nest-branded home automation products throughout the year. The company will reportedly aggressively price its items to compete directly with Amazon, Samsung, and other manufacturers that are already established in the region.

While Alphabet appears to be eager to break into the Indian market, there will definitely be hurdles for the tech giant. The company will need to produce at least some of its products in the country since Indian law requires retailers to manufacture at least 30 percent of their products locally. While this doesn’t sound too daunting, other companies who have set up in the country have reported significant problems with bureaucracy as well as actually acquire land to build factories.

Although other companies have had difficulty setting up shop in India, Apple has successfully done so and manufactures its budget iPhone SE in the country. Additionally, two-thirds of all phones sold in India are currently manufactured domestically.

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Best Battery Cases for the Galaxy Note 8

Don’t be the sucker holding a $1000 phone with a dead battery!

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is the latest ultra-functional smartphone that uses that glorious S Pen that allows you to do more with your phone throughout the day — as long as you don’t run out of battery life.

That’s where a battery case can come in real handy. If you’ve found your Note 8 battery can’t make it through a full day of use, you might want to consider a battery case that will offer you a bit of a boost whenever you need it without leaving you tethered to a wall. But before we dive into the options below, we should say from the outset that most battery cases will prevent your phone from using NFC due to their thickness and density — certainly something to keep in mind.

With that out of the way, let’s take a look at our options!

• Mophie 2950mAh Juice Pack Battery Case
• Mophie Charge Force Case with powerstation External Battery Pack
• ZeroLemon 10000mAh Ultra Power Battery Case
• ZeroLemon 5500mAh SlimPower battery Case
• RUNSY 6500mAh Battery Case

Mophie 2950mAh Juice Pack Battery Case

Mophie is one of the leading manufacturers of smartphone battery cases and they produce a premium product with a price to match. For the Note 8, they offer the Mophie Juice Pack, which offers up 2950mAh of extra battery life for your phone, perfect for giving you an extra boost of juice when you’re phone’s running low near the end of the day.

Available for $100, it’s far and away the most expensive option on this list, especially when you consider the battery capacity is the smallest. This is because Mophie tends to value keeping things slim over packing more battery into a beefier case. However, the Juice Pack does include some pretty clutch features including wireless charging compatibility, so you can still use it on all of your various wireless chargers around the house. Mophie states on its website that its products are covered by a 2-year warranty, and it also offers a variety of wireless charging docks to keep your phone and your case topped up throughout your day.

See at Amazon

Mophie Charge Force Case with Powerstation External Battery Pack

Mophie’s other portable charging solution for the Note 8 isn’t a traditional battery case but something more modular. The Charge Force Case is a growing product line at Mophie, with rear leather trim and an attractive, reinforced plastic body, but its secret can’t be seen: it’s magnetic. That allows it to align a 3,000 mAh battery pack to its back, allowing it to stay there unless it’s forcibly dislodged.

The battery pack charges the Note 8 through the same Qi wireless charging as a regular charging pad, so it’s a little slower than the above battery case, which hooks into the phone’s USB-C port, but it’s so much more convenient to be able to remove the battery pack when it’s depleted and still have a great case to protect your expensive new phone.

At $99.95, the kit is the same price as the Juice Pack above, but it’s more flexible since the same battery pack can be used with countless other Charge Station cases on other phones. If family members have the same case, the packs can be used interchangeably. Think of the possibilities!

See at Amazon

ZeroLemon 10000mAh Ultra Power Battery Case

Alright, if you don’t mind carrying around a brick in your pocket and never want to see another low battery warning again, you’ll want to snag the ZeroLemon Ultra Power Battery Case. With a 10000mAh battery, this thing will keep your phone juiced up even through the busiest travel days.

ZeroLemon states that this case will add over 200% extra battery life to your phone, meaning you can go the whole day without having to plug in your phone. It’s also designed to be rugged against drops and features a rubberized material finish for a nice comfortable grip in hand.

However, if you bought your Note 8 partially because you loved its slim profile, you probably won’t like that this case makes your phone nearly an inch thick. Then again, a thin phone with no battery life is practically useless, right? Get this case for just $60 on Amazon.

See at Amazon

ZeroLemon 5500mAh SlimPower battery Case

Sold on getting a ZeroLemon case but wish they offered something a little more slim? You should get the ZeroLemon SlimPower case! It’s half the price of the bigger ZeroLemon case at just $30, but is still handy with enough juice to fully recharge your Note 8.

It’s also slightly slimmer than the other ZeroLemon case which is important if you’re planning to use this on a daily basis. ZeroLemon has done what they can to ensure they don’t add too much height to an already very tall phone, so looking at this phone head on it looks pretty nice. If you value design over pure battery power, this is the case to get.

See at Amazon

RUNSY 6500mAh Battery Case

Looking for a compromise between all the other options on this list? Check out this RUNSY battery case for the Note 8. It’s positioned between the two ZeroLemon cases with a 6500mAh battery, and yet features a slimmer design than even the slimmer ZeroLemon case.

It’s also a very well-reviewed case on Amazon which is nice to see from a manufacturer that we’re not too familiar with. Priced at $50, it’s not unreasonably expensive and a great all-around choice for any Note 8 owner.

See at Amazon

What do you think of these battery cases?

Are battery cases functional enough for you to forgive the added bulk? Let us know in the comments below!

Update, March 2018: We’ve added the Mophie Charge Force Case and Powerstation to the list because it’s flexible and awesome!

Samsung Galaxy Note 8

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OnePlus officially teases the upcoming OnePlus 6

This pretty much confirms the name, too.

We’ve been talking about OnePlus 6 rumors for a few weeks, and now that we’re at the point where we know most all of what to expect from the device, OnePlus has decided to begin teasing its release.

Leaked photo of the OnePlus 6

On its official Twitter account, OnePlus shared a short clip that says “The speed you need” before briefly flashing the number 6 — essentially confirming that its upcoming phone will, in fact, be branded as the OnePlus 6. As if that wasn’t enough, the clip was also shared with the caption of “6et ready!”

So, what should we expect from the OnePlus 6? OnePlus has confirmed that the phone will have a notch in its display, but at this point in the mobile industry, that really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

6et ready! pic.twitter.com/bmvI75xphm

— OnePlus (@oneplus) April 2, 2018

The Snapdragon 845 should power the phone, and we’ll likely see at least one variant with an overkill 8GB of RAM. Dual cameras will be present on the back, the battery’s rumored to be a 3,300 mAh size, and Android 8.1 with OxygenOS will be present from day one.

OnePlus doesn’t mention anything in regards to pricing or availability with the new teaser, but based on this and the number of leaks we’ve seen so far, I imagine we get a full announcement within the next month.

What are you looking forward to the most with the OnePlus 6?

OnePlus succeeds because of its desire to copy Apple

Alexa now lets you donate to charities by just using your voice

There are 48 charities/nonprofits to choose from at launch.

The list of functions you can perform with Amazon Alexa is neverending, and today the virtual assistant is starting to think outside itself. Thanks to a new feature called Alexa Donations, you can send money to your favorite charities and nonprofits by just using your voice.

Next time you feel like paying it forward, you can say “Alexa, make a donation” to have the assistant ask you where you’d like to send money to and how much. Along with this, you can also give a more specific command, such as “Alexa, donate $100 to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.”

There are 48 different charities and nonprofits to choose from at launch, including American Red Cross, UNICEF, Wikimedia Foundation, and others.

Donations are made using the preferred payment method you’ve got connected to Amazon Pay, and in regards to the foundations that are available, Amazon says that “the list will continue to grow.”

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See at Amazon

Today’s best deals you won’t want to miss

Whether you’re looking for new tech gear or household items, we’ve got you covered.

Today you can get big discounts on the Amazon Echo Spot, Wemo Mini smart plugs, Samsung wireless chargers, and more! Don’t pass these up.

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