Samsung’s future phones might include this ‘Smart Glow’ ring for alerts

Some of Samsung’s upcoming smartphones might get a new “Smart Glow” feature.

According to SamMobile, the Galaxy J2, which will only be available in India, and possibly future devices, such as the Galaxy S8 and Tizen phones, will feature a glowing ring that surrounds the rear-facing camera. This ring will act similarly to the blinking LED found on current Galaxy devices, but it’ll primarily serve up three types of notifications: priority alerts, usage alerts, and selfie assist.

Priority alerts will be a lot like the Edge lighting used on the Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S7 Edge. Colours could be assigned to contacts, for instance, so you’ll be able to know at-a-glance who is calling, messaging, or emailing. Usage alerts will indicate phone-related stuff, such as battery status, and Selfie assist will basically light up blue and help you take a picture with the rear camera. Details, man.

SamMobile, which reportedly spotted this information in a leaked user manual for the J2, said Smart Glow will add more functionality after its release. It might include, for instance, weather and health alerts, which could indicate the temperature outside or your heart rate, respectively. 

SamMobile/Samsung

‘Ghostbusters: Dimension’ is a glimpse at where VR is headed

It was a struggle. My team and I spent several minutes fending off a malevolent spirit before finally subduing her, practically destroying a cramped apartment in the process. I was still reeling from being pelted with books and other loose objects when I began to survey the damage. Then, a scream. I turned around, knowing it could be only one thing: the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, staring at us through a window. That was just one of many moments during the Ghostbusters: Dimension VR experience where I realized I was seeing something truly unique.

Designed by The Void, a VR design company that’s been pushing for more interactive virtual experiences, it’s the marquee attraction at Madam Tussauds’ new Ghostbusters exhibit in NYC. And really, it’s the main reason to fight through the crowds at that tourist-clogged museum.

Before you even get to the VR area, you stroll through a typical Tussauds setup: A “subway station” with some freaked out attendants leads you through a haunted hallway, complete with “spooky” misty lighting. Eventually you reach Zhu’s Chinese Restaurant, the headquarters for the new batch of Ghostbusters, where a smattering of props and life-sized wax replicas of the new cast greet you. And of course, you come across Slimer at one point. Honestly, I couldn’t get past all that stuff fast enough.

My expectations were pretty low by the time I reached the Ghostbusters: Dimension station, but I became a bit more hopeful once I saw all the gear we’d be putting on. That included an elaborate vest/backpack we had to strap on, a replica proton gun, and of course, a bulky VR headset. A “backtop” computer powered the vest — it’s a 3.5-pound rig with a desktop-class Core i7 processor and an undisclosed “next-generation” NVIDIA GPU. According to The Void’s CEO Ken Bretschneider, it differs from the many VR backpack computers we’re seeing because of its custom design (the company also trademarked the term “backtop”). The entire experience is also built on Unity’s VR platform.

Once my team (which consisted of two other journalists) and I were all strapped in, I had my first revelatory experience of the day: we walked through a door in VR by actually walking through a door in real life. The sensation of reaching out and feeling a door virtually, and having it actually be there, was uncanny. With the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, I’ve gotten used to teleporting around VR environments or using a traditional gamepad. Actually being able to walk through a VR environment, all the while seeing my teammates doing the same thing, makes the experience far more immersive. The Void calls this “hyper reality,” which sounds just as buzzwordy as Microsoft’s “mixed reality” concept. After seeing it in action though, hyper reality sounds about right.

We got our bearings in a small apartment, where cute looking ghosts floated about (so cute that we felt bad about shooting them down). I noticed that I could see everything my teammates were doing very clearly, and we could also hear each other thanks to microphones in the headset. Rather than being isolating like so many VR implementations, Dimension feels collaborative. When a grumpy ghost stepped out of the toilet (I think with a newspaper in hand), we were quick to work together to take him down. We also noticed that we could actually feel ghosts passing through us, thanks to localized haptic feedback on our vests.

Eventually a door opened and we were directed to take an elevator to a new floor. My team hesitated before stepping on the lift, likely traumatized by countless haunted houses over the years. Once we stepped on, we felt the elevator rumbling beneath us. At one point Slimer appeared and flew right through us. We also caught a glimpse of the woman in white, who we’d be taking down later. Even though we were likely just on a static, rumbling platform, it felt as if we were actually moving on an elevator. (We couldn’t take the headsets off during the experience.)

We made our way through a walkway, which led to an open catwalk high above New York City. We could see some sort of interdimensional portal streaming out of the Empire State Building (expect that to be a plot point in the new movie), and we could even make out cars and people moving on the ground dozens of stories beneath us. And then, the gargoyles appeared. It was our largest battle yet, but my team and I had no trouble dispatching them. We made our way along the catwalk, holding the side rails for guidance (which I felt IRL), and eventually found ourselves in another small apartment.

It wasn’t too long before the woman in white appeared. We spent several minutes trying to control her with our proton guns, all the while avoiding smaller ghosts wreaking havoc. Eventually, someone laid out the trap and we dragged her over it together. That’s when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man decided to visit, ripping off the roof in the process. That’s a moment I remember distinctly, as I was looking in the other direction when he appeared. It wasn’t until I turned around that I saw what my teammates were screaming about. And I’ll admit, I was caught off guard by having a giant marshmallow sneak up on me. That’s a sign of truly immersive VR.

Of course, our victory was set in stone, but it still felt good taking down Stay Puft as a team. Naturally, we had to cross our proton gun streams to roast him, something I’m sure many Ghostbusters fans have been dreaming of for decades. By the end, my team and I felt like experienced ghost hunters.

As I began the slow process of dismantling the VR equipment, I couldn’t help but wonder how The Void put all of this together. Consumer VR, at best, is currently restricted to a single room. But Ghostbusters: Dimension had me moving through several rooms physically, all the while synced up with people running their own computers. As The Void’s Bretschneider describes it, a lot of custom work went into the experience. “We’re using very very expensive systems the would be difficult to put into the home market because of the price point.” he said. “It’s almost like hybrid motion-capture systems.”

The company is also developing an RF tracking system called Spire for future experiences, which will offer “full body tracking” with “full avatar representation inside the world.” He also expects it to be accurate to under a millimeter, and it won’t have the occlusion issues we’ve seen with current VR tracking. Dimension uses an early version of the Spire system for keeping track of multiple people throughout the VR world.

“What we really want you to do is step into a world, and forget about the equipment,” Bretschneider said. “You’re just in another world.”

As cool as it is, Ghostbusters: Dimension is a tough sell for most consumers. It’s only 10 minutes long, but you’ll have to shell out an additional $20 on top of the Madam Tussauds admission (which starts at $25) to experience it. But while it’s certainly expensive, I have a feeling Ghostbusters fans won’t mind it at all.

Look at this ridiculous 200-watt laser bazooka

YouTuber and insane laser electrician Styropyro has outdone himself once again. While his previous experiments have led to a homebuilt lightsaber and a dangerous laser shotgun, this time has more than added more than five times the power to create a massive, 200W “laser bazooka.”

For reference, a standard laser pointer is 0.005W, while a laboratory laser is 0.5W — meaning it can still damage your eyes even if you’re only staring at the spot of light on the wall. The laser bazooka, meanwhile, is 400 times more powerful than the most dangerous lab laser. The total power consumption is nearly a kilowatt, Styropyro says, or roughly the same as a microwave oven.

Appropriately enough, the device was built from scrap metal and the blue laser diodes ripped out of some broken DLP projectors. The lasers from the projector are run through an optical component called a knife-edger, which combines them into one retina-searing beam that can toast a piece of 2×4 in seconds. In fact, the the resulting beam is so powerful, our homebrewed mad scientist also had rig up a special welding helmet just to operate it. In other words: don’t try this at home, kids.

On-demand food service delivers beer with your meal

There’s no shortage of online food delivery services, and services that deliver alcohol. However, getting both at the same time is a challenge. How are you supposed to complement that burger with a tasty brew? DoorDash has an answer. As of today, customers in southern California (other cities are coming, at least in the US) can order both alcohol and food at the same time, whether the drinks come from a restaurant or a liquor store. Your options will depend on the relevant corporate partnerships, but it could save you the hassle of placing a second order or (gasp) drinking something tamer.

The option will usually be expensive (DoorDash is temporarily waiving delivery fees when you order Bud, Bud Light or Stella Artois), so this is something of a gamble. However, it might well pay off — you’ve probably had a moment when the absence of alcohol at home made it that much more tempting to head out for dinner. It won’t be at all surprising if other delivery rivals quickly follow suit.

Via: VentureBeat

Source: DoorDash

NBC: Rio 2016 broadcast is its ‘most live Olympics ever’

While NBC has been criticized for years over its use of tape delay, a combination of multiple channels, live streaming and Brazil’s favorable time zone (just hour ahead of ET) mean that shouldn’t be a problem this summer. For Rio 2016, NBC says this will be its “most live Olympics ever” with 4,500 hours of coverage streaming on NBCOlympics.com and the recently renamed NBC Sports app. Also new this time around is that the NBC Sports app is on connected TV devices (it launched on Roku and Apple TV last year), not just mobile. You will, of course, still need a cable or satellite account to login and view everything, although NBC hasn’t revealed all the details on how that will work.

As previously revealed, NBC will have Ultra HD footage (downconverted from 8K) of certain events available the day after they happen, so watch to see which providers will carry that. Complete with HDR and Dolby Atmos audio, it will consist of 83 hours of footage that kicks off the day after the Opening Ceremony. It’s also doing VR for the first time with these Olympics, although we don’t have any details on what that will include. There are more details on what’s split up across which networks in the press release if you need to plan out a schedule, but there’s plenty of time to get everything worked out before the first events start August 3rd.

Source: NBC Sports

Toyota recalls another 1.4 million cars with defective airbags

Airbags have been at the center of the largest auto recall this year. Japanese corporate Takata’s faulty airbags have forced major automakers to recall about 60 million cars in the US alone. While the automative industry is still dealing with the extent of the risks associated with Takata’s airbags, which have been linked to over a dozen deaths and a hundred injuries, Toyota has now announced a second recall. The Japanese carmaker is recalling 1.43 million cars because of defective inflators and another 2.87 cars that have fuel emission problems.

While a chunk of that recall seems to follow the on-going airbag disaster that’s related to the inflators, Toyota has said that it has nothing to do with Takata airbags. The airbags, which come from a different supplier that hasn’t been named, have a small crack in the welding of the inflators that could cause them to expand unexpectedly. No deaths or injuries have been reported due to the issue yet but the Japanese carmaker is taking no chances. The second recall will affect the company’s hybrid models including the Prius and the Lexus CT200h built between 2010 and 2012.

Source: The New York Times

Shine bright with this fireworks-filled Wallpaper Wednesday

Don’t let your home screen fall into a rut — switch out your wallpaper!

You don’t have to pull out a complex new theme like Spider-Man to bring a breath of fresh air to your home screen. A new wallpaper can do wonders, and launchers like Action Launcher can re-theme your entire home screen around a good wallpaper. In our effort to help brighten your device — and maybe your day — we’re compiling some wallpapers for you to try out.

If you’ve got a wallpaper you use everywhere, share it in the comments below! We’re always looking for something new. Now get your wallpaper picker ready and see what’s in store this week.

Illuminations

When there are fireworks displays going on all across the country on one night, places that normally have fireworks have to step it up. Take Illuminations at Epcot. They kick things up after their unity-focused fireworks, with a five minute finale of — I kid you not — solid pyrotechnic booms. I thought I was gonna go deaf at one point. And while the booms in this lovely image are significantly less eardrum-bursting, they’re nonetheless beautiful.

Illuminations

Fireworks by nuic

This weekend Americans will be shooting off fireworks by the bushel, but fantastic firework displays are found all over the world. This show in Singapore is magnificent, and while most of us might never see their National Day display, wallpapers like these can remind us of the spark of adventure… and phosphorus.

Fireworks by nuic

Disneyland Hong Kong Red Skies

While fireworks wow in every color, there’s something about red fireworks that’s special. It’s the color we celebrate in the Star Spangled Banner, the rocket’s red glare. It’s a deeply patriotic color in countries around the world, from America to France to Germany to Russia to China, where these red rockets cast the castle at Hong Kong Disneyland in a brilliant silhouette.

Disneyland Hong Kong Red Skies

Exploding Flower Bed

There are many different kinds of fireworks and while most of them get macho, patriotic names, some are more whimsical. Take this impressive display right here, with a name Roger Rabbit could get behind: Exploding Flower Bed fireworks. They do kinda resemble a bed of exotic fire-red flowers… expect that picking one would probably lost you some bones…

Exploding Flower Bed

Fireworks

Fireworks come in just about every shape and size imaginable, and the level of chemistry and artistry that goes into crafting their colors, shapes, and type of burn is quite impressive. Each color here requires a different metal or metallic compound to achieve its particular hue, from Stronium red rockets to Cesium blue bombshells.

Fireworks

Awesometacular Disney Fireworks

Fireworks are fantastic, but without people to enjoy them with, it’s just a quick burn and a loud bang. People (And music) can turn fireworks from a noise complaint into a full-fledged show, and no one puts on firework shows quite like Disney. As one of the largest fireworks purchasers in the world, it should be no surprise that the mouse puts on quite a show for its guests… and everyone within a few miles of the property.

Awesometacular Disney Fireworks