ICYMI: Racecar drivers are being replaced by computers
Today on In Case You Missed It: Formula E racing is gearing up for new robo-races with the DevBot, a hybrid vehicle that can be driven by a computer rather than a person. Meanwhile, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania tested injecting a new hydrogel into animals and find that it helps thicken up weak, damaged tissue after heart attacks.
If you want to test out the Trump chatbot, that’s here, though a look at the candidate’s Twitter account will deliver the same information. Drone enthusiasts here for the Gameboy Classic controller will find the original video on YouTube. As always, please share any interesting tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The highs and lows of Gamescom 2016
Gamescom is over. The publishers have packed away their booths, and the lingering smell of sweaty, Kölsch-fueled gamers (and sweaty, coffee-fueled journalists) has finally started to dissipate. In the closing hours of our trip to Cologne, Germany, the “team” (Nick Summers and I) sat down to chat about our time at the video game show.
Talking points include the lack of press conferences this year; the myriad ways I made a fool of myself in VR; Outreach’s fresh take on space exploration; Sea of Thieves actually looking pretty good; Metal Gear Survive really not looking good and Titanfall 2’s new focus on plot. That’s a wrap on our Gamescom coverage this year — if you missed any of our stories, you can find them all here.
Leap Motion wants picking up VR objects to feel believable
Virtual reality is more immersive when you can pick up objects with your bare hands, rather than a controller or a pair of wand-style remotes. Leap Motion is one of the frontrunners in this area, having pivoted its candy bar motion-tracking sensor from desktop accessory to VR headset companion. To raise interest in the product — which you still have to attach manually to an Oculus Rift or HTC Vive — it’s developed a new piece of software called the “Interaction Engine.” Available as an add-on for Unity, it promises a more realistic experience while interacting with make-believe objects.
The big problem, Leap Motion argues, is that traditional game engines weren’t designed with human hands in mind. We move in sudden, unpredictable ways, gripping objects with different levels of proficiency. When you pick up a sponge, for instance, it should flex and compress in the places where your fingers are exerting pressure. In VR, these nuances are difficult to track and simulate. If you push a rubber ball against the floor, for instance, most physics engines will be overwhelmed and send the sphere flying in a weird, unrealistic direction. The Interaction Engine solves this issue by implementing “an alternate set of physics rules” which trigger whenever your hands are touching or “inside” a virtual object.
“This makes it possible to pick things up and hold them in a way that feels truly solid,” the company said in a blog post. “It also uses a secondary real-time physics representation of the hands, opening up more subtle interactions.” The Unity extension is currently in beta, and works best with objects that are one to two inches in size. That might sound rather restrictive — especially for games with high fantasy weapons — but it’s a start towards accommodating our fingers and thumbs in VR. Leap Motion says the software is highly customizable too, with settings that let you change how objects can be thrown and collide with one another.
Even with this new engine, the Leap Motion is a niche proposition. Few people have high-end VR headsets at the moment, and even fewer have bought a Leap Motion controller too. Still, it’s a unique sensor, and one the company hopes will be adopted by headset makers officially. If that happens, and virtual reality takes off, it’ll finally have a viable business model. Until then, however, it has to continuously showcase what the Leap Motion is capable of, and the unique experiences it can provide in VR.
Source: Leap Motion
China reveals images and details of its first Mars rover
NASA’s next-gen Mars rover might not be the only space vehicle heading to the red planet in 2020. China is apparently planning to deploy a rover of its own by July or August 2020, and the country has just released some mission details and computer-generated images (see above for one) to the public. According to state-run publication Xinhua, mission chief Zhang Rongqiao revealed during a presscon in Beijing that the rover will be ferried to space by a Long March-5 carrier rocket. Seven months after liftoff, the lander will break free from the orbiter to make its way to the planet’s equator where the rover will begin its journey.
China has been aggressively expanding its space program in recent years. It launched the Chang’e 3 mission back in 2013 that carried its Yutu rover, which lasted for two years when it was supposed to last only for three months, to the moon. The country also launched a quantum satellite in mid-August to enable hack-proof communications.
The six-wheeled rover it’s blasting off to space in 2020 will be larger than Yutu at 441 pounds. It will be equipped with 13 different instruments, including a radar that can drill into the ground and a remote-sensing camera, to take a closer look at the Martian soil and environment. Like Yutu, it’s only supposed to gather and beam back data for three months, though it could also last a lot longer than that.
Source: Xinhua, Reuters, BBC
Jackery Introduces First-Ever Lightning Cable With Integrated Battery
Jackery has introduced the Jewel, claimed to be the first-ever Apple-certified Lightning-to-USB cable with a built-in battery for iPhone, iPad, and iPod models.
The 3.2-foot cable features an integrated 450mAh battery that can, for example, fast charge an iPhone 6s up to 26% or an iPhone 6s Plus up to 16%. Like any other Lightning cable, the Jewel can provide a 1 amp charge from any USB power outlet or transfer data from the iPhone, iPad, or iPod to a connected Mac or PC.
The cable also has a built-in LED charging indicator:
A built-in LED on the battery and charger case gives users information on battery levels. In charging mode, an LED flashes and illuminates in red, green or blue to indicate levels, and users can also push the cable’s power button to check battery levels. The LED also indicates levels in recharging mode and will continue flashing until the battery is fully charged.
The cable is available now for $19.99 from Jackery or Amazon in the United States. The cable is coming soon to Canada and the United Kingdom.
Update: As several readers have pointed out, Native Union also offers an MFi-certified JUMP Cable with integrated 800 mAh battery for $50.
Tags: iPhone accessories, Lightning
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Twelve South Releases BookBook and SurfacePad for 9.7″ iPad Pro
Twelve South has announced that its BookBook and SurfacePad covers are now available for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro.
BookBook is a leather case reminiscent of a vintage sketchbook and includes a built-in kickstand and Apple Pencil holster. The case retails for $79.99 for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro, while the Rutledge Edition is $99.99.
SurfacePad is a Smart Cover-like leather cover with a built-in kickstand for multi-angle viewing and magnets for automatic sleep/wake functionality. SurfacePad for the 9.7-inch iPad Pro is available in Camel and Jet Black colors for $79.99.
BookBook is also available for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, while the SurfacePad is compatible with the iPad Air, iPad Air 2, and all iPad mini models.
Tags: Twelve South, BookBook
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Fake ‘iPhone 6 SE’ Packaging Surfaces Online
A handful of photos claimed to show packaging for a device called the “iPhone 6 SE” have surfaced online today, presumably countering rumors that the next iPhone will be called the iPhone 7, but the photos have quite clearly been digitally altered.
The photos have circulated on a number of sites with varying amounts of redaction, but the highest quality, least edited versions we’ve found were shared by frequent Weibo leaker “KK”, who notes he collected them from other users and doesn’t believe Apple will use the “iPhone 6 SE” name.
On the rear of the box shown in the photos, multiple lines of text have been Photoshopped, including both mentions of the name “iPhone6 SE,” placing the six on the tail end of “iPhone” with none of Apple’s traditional spacing. There are also font and background color discrepancies in the areas of the crucial text, telltale signs of manipulation.
In addition to the iPhone 6 SE name, other text lines appearing to be Photoshopped include a 2016 copyright date at the very bottom and an A1758 model number halfway through the large block of text at the top.
The other angles of the package have slightly skewed typography for the iPhone 6 SE title, further confirming the name’s blend of text and logos from the iPhone 6 and iPhone SE packaging, which would be easily obtained online and used to edit a photo of an older model box.
The front of the box is also curiously omitted from the images shared today. Although the front-facing part of the iPhone 7 is expected to be largely similar to the iPhone 6 and 6s, subtle clues like glimpses of the rearranged antenna bands or a potentially flush Home Button could be harder to pull off in Photoshop. In addition, Apple will undoubtedly use a different wallpaper presentation for the new phone to differentiate the box from prior models.
As a whole, the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus are believed to be modest updates to last year’s iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus. Visual overhauls will be kept to a minimum and should include reduced antenna bands, a potential flush Home button, and a larger camera bump, while the most notable and controversial change may be the omission of a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
Leaks and rumors of varying quality will no doubt continue in the lead-up to Apple’s rumored September 7 media event, which is now just two weeks away. Following the event, pre-orders are expected to begin on September 9 with a potential launch on September 16 or September 23.
Related Roundup: iPhone 7
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Comcast’s Watchable streaming app adds new exclusive series
Even cable giant Comcast has to pay attention to internet viewers, and last year it launched an interesting YouTube-like site called Watchable. Packed with content from creators including Buzzfeed and Vice it took aim directly at the very millennials that might not have cable at all, and now Comcast is trying harder to attract those viewers by offering several free new shows that are exclusive to Watchable. Oddly, probably because the site is not called “embeddable,” we’ll have to show you the trailers for its original programming on YouTube.
The first three series include Cholos Try, Ballin’ on a Budget and How to Human, while six others are coming later this year. To attract talent and partners, Comcast reportedly promised a bigger split of revenue, but it’s hard to have revenue without the number of viewers one can get on YouTube, Facebook or pretty much anywhere else, and the only way to get people to try Watchable is to offer something you can’t get elsewhere. You’ve probably already accessed the videos via Android, iOS or Comcast’s X1 platform while taking a selfie, moving across the country for a new job and ordering a custom-designed participation trophy, but if not,
Via: TechCrunch
Source: Watchable Exclusives, Comcast
YouTube’s app for the big screen is being updated today
YouTube may have originated on the desktop (more than a decade ago!), but now mobile and the living room are two of its most important platforms. The latter is receiving an update today: Game consoles, streaming devices like Roku, smart TVs and of course the Chromecast will all get a small but important change. Now, when you load up YouTube, you’ll be presented with a variety of different content tabs right at the top of the interface. It’s now much easier to flip through topics like sports, news, comedy, music, entertainment and so forth.
Google previously had similar categories hidden in the left-side menu bar, but the company thinks that moving them front and center will help users find content faster and keep them watching longer. The categories themselves have also been refined a bit, with some new additions and subtractions getting to the 14 total you’ll find now. It’s something YouTube has been working on ever since it started designing its own consistent interface across the big screen in 2013. Previously, YouTube had an open API that device makers could tap into and make their apps, but that led to inconsistent experiences and new features being left behind.
Below those high-level categories are a bunch of sub-genres and categorizations to help users drill in to what they may want to watch. Each section typically has a “top stories” area first that surfaces trending and popular videos. YouTube head of living room products Sarah Ali tells Engadget that the company spent a lot of time working to get the algorithms right so that it surfaces not only new videos, but older content that might be relevant to a topic that’s trending.
Beyond the top stories area are sub-categories meant to show off popular topics within a broader group. In gaming, for example, you might see Pokémon Go, Minecraft and Overwatch. Once you scroll through about 10 of these groupings you’ll get to a handful of suggested topics and channels. And once you start watching in any of these groups, the next video in the sequence will play automatically.
YouTube also added a new live streams section. There’s a top “live” area that shows you a variety of streams happening right at the moment you’re looking, and (in some cases) you can find live streams specific to the top-level categories when you start drilling down.
This update is rolling out today to basically every device that displays YouTube on your big TV. The only notable exception to that is the Apple TV, which has its own YouTube app that integrates with Siri and that Google maintains separately. Ali was quick to point out that it is feature complete, so Apple TV users aren’t missing out on anything at the moment. But if you’re watching YouTube on pretty much any other device (provided it was made in the last four years or so), the new interface should show up soon.
However, just note that only users in the US will see this change, at least for now. Ali said all of the recommendations need to be localized to get the right mix of content in that’s relevant to a particular country. It sounds like eventually other regions will get this update, but for the time being it’s restricted to the US.
These are the Sony devices that will be updated to Android 7.0 Nougat
Tough luck Xperia Z3 owners.
Sony has published the list of devices that will be updated to Android 7.0 Nougat, and right off the bat there’s a glaring omission. There’s no mention of phones in the Xperia C, Xperia M, or Xperia E lineups, which means that it is unlikely these devices will ever see the Nougat update. The Xperia Z3, which made its debut in September 2014, will also not be updated to the latest version of Android.
These are the devices that are slated to pick up the Nougat update:
- Xperia Z3+
- Xperia Z4 Tablet
- Xperia Z5
- Xperia Z5 Compact
- Xperia Z5 Premium
- Xperia X
- Xperia XA
- Xperia X Performance
- Xperia XA Ultra
Sony’s problem is one of its own making. With the vendor continuing to roll out a new high-end device every six months, we’ve seen three new flagships since the Xperia Z3 debuted nearly two years ago, and Sony is slated to launch a new phone next month at IFA. Xperia Z3 will undoubtedly feel left out, considering the phone was selected as the handset of choice for testing Nougat preview builds.
Furthermore, there’s no mention of when we’ll see updates roll out to the devices mentioned in the list, with Sony stating that it will be a “phased process,” and that the timing will vary by “market and/or operator.”
Elsewhere, HTC has mentioned that the HTC 10, HTC One A9, and the One M9 will receive the Nougat update, while Samsung is assuring updates for the Galaxy Note 7, S7, S7 edge, and last year’s Galaxy Note 5, S6, S6 edge, and S6 edge+ among other models.
Will my phone get updated to Android 7.0 Nougat?
