Weekends with Engadget: the future of Oculus Rift, new HTC One review and more!
Welcome to Weekends with Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines from the past seven days — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. For even more news, subscribe to our Flipboard magazine!
Can Oculus survive the Facebook effect?
Earlier this week, the internet responded to Facebook’s $2 billion acquisition of Oculus VR with a swift fury. But it’s not all bad news. Our own Marc Perton points out, the deal doesn’t change the essence of the Oculus Rift, or its potential for non-gaming applications.
HTC One review (2014): a great phone, but no longer a game-changer
HTC’s new One is official, and it’s quite the looker. With a sleek unibody chassis reminiscent of last year’s model, the new One packs a larger 5-inch screen, and a brand new version of its Sense UI. What’s more, the handset is one sale in the US today, starting at $199 for the 16GB version.
iTunes Radio now streams the news, thanks to NPR
Last week, NPR announced that it joined iTunes Radio as the music streaming service’s first news channel. It may be the exclusive station for iDevice users at the moment, but we expect that won’t last for long.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review (2014): new, but not necessarily improved
The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon brings everything Lenovo fans loved about the original X1 Carbon, just in a lighter, slimmer package. Some users, however, may not enjoy its new “adaptive panel,” which replaces the traditional Fn keys. You can pick one up for $1,259, but be warned: the X1 Carbon has the shortest battery life in its class.
Turkish government bans YouTube following attempt to remove corruption videos
The Turkish government has struck again, this time banning YouTube in what appears to be an attempt to remove videos that contain evidence of political corruption. At this point, the restriction is active on several ISPs and continues to roll out.
San Francisco Giants (and most of MLB) adopt Apple’s iBeacon for an enhanced ballpark experience
The iBeacon is a small Apple device that boosts iPhone location services through Bluetooth — and the San Francisco Giants are outfitting their entire stadium with the tech. For the Giants, as well as 19 other MLB teams following suit, the iBeacon is yet another way to bring mobile interaction with fans to the next level.
Facebook: A visual history
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network turned 10 this year, so we took a look back at its design changes over the course of the decade. From profile redesigns to quarterly News Feed tweaks and open betas, constantly adapting aesthetics to catering to user habits has been a driving force for Facebook for quite some time.
Office for iPad review: three beautiful apps, each with strong competition
After quite a few leaks, Microsoft officially outed its Office for iPad offering. Those curious to try it out will need an Office 365 subscription in order to opt in and OneDrive for cloud accessibility, making it an optimal choice for those already invested in Redmond’s wares. Click through for all of the details in our full review.
This is what Facebook could look like on Oculus Rift (video)
As you’re probably aware, Facebook dropped $2 billion on Oculus VR with the intent to bring “completely new kinds of experiences” to us all. And while that leaves much to the imagination, Chaotic Moon studios has an idea of what that could look like.
NSA spied on Huawei founder’s emails to implicate him as a Communist Party insider
The New York Times managed to get a glimpse of documents suggesting that the NSA was hacking into the email account of Huawei founder, Ren Zhengfei. Apparently the government has been creating “back doors” in the company’s systems since 2009.
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Filed under: Misc
Facebook scrapped last year’s redesign because your screen is too small
When Facebook scrapped the picture-heavy News Feed redesign from last spring in favor of a more conservative look, it briefly touched on screen size as a factor. As it turns out, displays played a more important role in the reversal than you might think. The company’s Julie Zhuo explains that the hyper-visual layout fell apart on netbooks and other small-screened PCs — you might only see one post at a time, and scrolling was a pain without the right mouse or trackpad. While the early 2013 feed would have boosted Facebook’s revenue, it wasn’t going to fly when the social network has to please hundreds of millions of users that seldom have access to big displays.
Filed under: Internet, Facebook
Source: Julie Zhuo (Medium)
Oculus VR’s John Carmack sees bright future in Facebook deal
When Facebook said it would buy Oculus VR, many eyes turned to Oculus CTO John Carmack. Would Quake‘s co-creator be happy with the deal when Facebook sees virtual reality gaming as just the beginning? Thankfully, it looks like he’s staying put. In a response to jitters about the acquisition, Carmack says that Facebook appears to “get the Big Picture” — it understands the impact of VR and will help the technology grow. The executive also isn’t worried about the social network’s privacy issues. While he believes that privacy is important, he also sees data mining as a valuable tool for successful companies. The statements won’t completely assuage fears that the acquisition could lead Oculus astray, but Carmack clearly believes that the company is still headed in the right direction.
Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Wearables, Facebook
Via: Joystiq
Source: Peter Berkman (Tumblr 1), (2)
Feedback Loop: The future of VR, remote controls and breakfast phones
Welcome to Feedback Loop, a weekly roundup of the most interesting discussions happening within the Engadget community. There’s so much technology to talk about and so little time to enjoy it, but you have a lot of great ideas and opinions that need to be shared! Join us every Saturday as we highlight some of the most interesting discussions that happened during the past week.
This week, we discussed the future of virtual reality gaming in light of Facebook’s purchase of Oculus, loosened things up a bit by sharing some of our favorite WiFi network names, pondered the evolution of the remote control, sought advice on new cameras and celebrated promotional gadgets like the Breakfast Phone. Head on past the break and join the conversation in the Engadget forums.
What excites you about the prospect of virtual reality?
Earlier this week, Facebook bought Oculus VR for $2 billion and it caused many to wonder about the future of virtual reality gaming. It’s long been an unrealized fantasy for many gamers. Will Facebook’s acquisition herald a new age of VR and if so, what excites you most about it?
Best WiFi network names
We’ve seen some pretty creative WiFi networks in our time that range from the downright inappropriate and juvenile to witty insights about our neighbors. Kris is asking fellow Engadget readers to share some of the best WiFi network names that you’ve seen.
Are remote controls becoming obsolete?
Despite the numerous options for streaming television, we still find ourselves spending a lot of time sitting in front of our home theater systems. Frank ponders the future of the remote control. With so many new ways to control our home theaters and set-top boxes, how do you think the remote control will evolve?
Camera for photography and video tutorials
Macouno is creating some new video tutorials for his website and is looking for a new camera that has some decent photographic chops, but also features good video performance. Do you have any recommendations? Help him out!
Free and limited edition corporate gadgets
Earlier this week, our main social media man, John Colucci, was one of the lucky few to receive a Taco Bell breakfast phone. This prompted Kris to ask about other noteworthy gadgets that companies have given away for promotional purposes. The CR-48, Google’s original Chromebook, comes to mind. What other free gadgets have companies given away for free and have you been lucky enough to get one?
That’s all this week! Do you want to talk about your favorite gadget or have a burning question about technology? Register for an Engadget account today, visit the Engadget forums and start a new discussion!
Daily Roundup: virtual Facebook concept, ThinkPad X1 Carbon review and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
This is what Facebook could look like on Oculus Rift (video)
As you’re probably aware, Facebook dropped $2 billion on Oculus VR with the intent to bring “completely new kinds of experiences” to us all. And while that leaves much to the imagination, Chaotic Moon studios has an idea of what that could look like.
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon review (2014): new, but not necessarily improved
The new ThinkPad X1 Carbon brings everything Lenovo fans loved about the original X1 Carbon, just in a lighter, slimmer package. Some users, however, may not enjoy its new “adaptive panel,” which replaces the traditional Fn keys. You can pick one up for $1,259, but be warned: the X1 Carbon has the shortest battery life in its class.
San Francisco Giants (and most of MLB) adopt Apple’s iBeacon for an enhanced ballpark experience
The iBeacon is a small Apple device that boosts iPhone location services through Bluetooth — and the San Francisco Giants are outfitting their entire stadium with the tech. For the Giants, as well as 19 other MLB teams following suit, the iBeacon is yet another way to bring mobile interaction with fans to the next level.
Facebook Messenger on iOS expands to include groups and forwarding
Facebook’s latest update to Messenger on iOS lets users send messages to a specific group of contacts in one fell swoop (with plenty of animal stickers, of course). You can also forward messages and photos to anyone outside of the conversation.
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Valve’s VR guru jumps ship to become Oculus’ head scientist
As it turns out, not everyone is bummed that Oculus VR will soon fall into Facebook’s gaping maw. Valve’s Michael Abrash — one of the most notable names in the company’s ambitious VR group — just announced that he’s joined Oculus as its new Chief Scientist. After long stints as a developer (he worked on Quake and Windows NT, among other things) and technical writer, Gabe Newell finally convinced Abrash to join Valve in 2011. It didn’t take long for him to start dishing out the good stuff, either. Since then he’s been tackling the difficulties of making VR truly work… and trying to deal with the very real possibility that VR would never be as pervasive or as meaningful as it could be. But now? He’s confident that VR can become “the Final Platform – the platform to end all platforms.” And it’s all because of Facebook.
“Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus means that VR is going to happen in all its glory,” Abrash wrote. “The resources and long-term commitment that Facebook brings gives Oculus the runway it needs to solve the hard problems of VR – and some of them are hard indeed.” While we may never get that Oculus-friendly version of Minecraft, at least one brilliant guy thinks we’re on the verge of something great. We’ll soon see how right he is.
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Oculus VR Blog
This is what Facebook could look like on Oculus Rift (video)
This week, much of the world met Oculus Rift for the very first time. And now that millions of consumers are at least somewhat familiar with the VR gadget, it’s not unreasonable to assume the device will eventually become mainstream, serving to create a much more immersive internet experience. That’s at least one theory, demonstrated today by Chaotic Moon, the Austin-based firm behind the stun copter and SharkPunch. That latter concept employs the same gear Chaotic’s using for today’s demo: the Oculus Rift Dev Kit 1, with Leap Motion mounted front and center.
With this particular third-party concept, users browse an e-tailer using the Rift. After a few moments of browsing Facebook on an iMac, an individual clicks over to a product advertised in the sidebar. He’s prompted to put on Oculus, at which point he’s able to explore a virtual Facebook marketplace, where he picks a designer bag off the shelf and turns it about as if he’s actually holding it, with Leap Motion recognizing hand movements and the software responding accordingly. It’s of course just one company’s early vision — it’s possible that Facebook hasn’t even seen this mock-up, let alone provided any input to the developers. Still, it’s a slick implementation after just a couple days’ work. Check it out in the video below.
Filed under: Displays, Gaming, Household, Peripherals, Internet, Facebook
The Engadget Podcast is live at 12PM ET!
Oh Oculus, we hardly knew ye and now you’re a part of the Zuckerborg. Whither goes your Rift? Is Virtual Reality now just a shill for status updates, virtual walls you can poster and an even more immersive way to experience other people’s vacation photos? Shudder. This isn’t how it was meant to be — how we thought it would be — but then again, we’d pretty much do anything for $2 billion, too. So, who are we to judge? Oh, that’s right, we’re the Engadget Enemigos! And we’re here to sip some coffee and talk you through the surprise of Palmer Luckey’s lucky stroke of Facebook fortune. We might even touch upon HTC’s slippery and brand spankin’ new One — if you behave.
It’s all happening at noon today, so turn on, tune in and loves us, won’t you?
[Image credit: Denelson83 / Wikimedia Commons (Test Pattern)]
Filed under: Podcasts
Facebook Messenger on iOS expands to include groups and forwarding
Remember when Facebook bought and then shut down Beluga back in 2011? Well, almost three years later, Zuck’s finally putting features from his first group-messaging-app purchase to use. The latest update to Messenger on iOS lets you group contacts together however you’d like, and spam ‘em with animal stickers (or texts) en masse. Along with the typical stability fixes and speed improvements, the change log notes that you can now forward messages and photos to users that aren’t in your current conversation too — pretty much the opposite of Snapchat.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Facebook
Source: iTunes
Daily Roundup: Facebook’s visual history, Office for iPad and more!
You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.
Facebook: A visual history
Mark Zuckerberg’s social network turned 10 this year, so we took a look back at its design changes over the course of the decade. From profile redesigns to quarterly News Feed tweaks and open betas, constantly adapting aesthetics to catering to user habits has been a driving force for Facebook for quite some time.
Companies would be in charge of phone records under Obama’s new data collection proposal
Earlier today, the White House delimited its new proposal that places control of bulk phone call data with the telecom companies, not the government. If approved, each carrier will continue holding on to records for 18 months, but could be “compelled” under court order to cough them up.
Turkish government bans YouTube following attempt to remove corruption videos
The Turkish government has struck again, this time banning YouTube in what appears to be an attempt to remove videos that contain evidence of political corruption. At this point, the restriction is active on several ISPs and continues to roll out.
Office for iPad review: three beautiful apps, each with strong competition
After quite a few leaks, Microsoft officially outed its Office for iPad offering. Those curious to try it out will need an Office 365 subscription in order to opt in and OneDrive for cloud accessibility, making it an optimal choice for those already invested in Redmond’s wares. Click through for all of the details in our full review.
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Filed under: Announcements
AIVAnet 