Category Archives: Technology

OnLive comes to iPad with limited functionality, bright future

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OnLive, that gaming on-demand cloud-based service you’ve been hearing so much about, has found its way to the iPad but not in the way you might suspect.  No you cannot demo and purchase games on Apple’s ubiquitous device; what can do, however, is hook up to OnLive’s servers to watch other people play games.  With the free OnLive Viewer app you can spectate live gameplay, view and rate Brag Clips, add your favorite players to a friends list and send them messages, and view trailers for current and upcoming games.  Says John Spinale, OnLive VP of Games and Media: “Watching live games and interacting with the people playing them takes social gaming to an entirely new level. It’s unlike any other experience. And people love it.”

But this is just the beginning for OnLive on portable devices.  The company promises that the update will receive an update sometime next year that will allow users to demo, purchase, and instantly play games and create Brag Clips–so much more than just spectating.  What they’re waiting for is games to become “touch- or motion-aware” so that gameplay is more suitable for a touchscreen experience a la the iPad.  CEO Steve Perlman says that the app “is the last piece of the puzzle to unify the worlds of TV, computing and mobile all under one real-time cloud-based platform, enabling previously inconceivable experiences, capabilities and live, video-rich social interaction.”  Beyond gaming, Perlman’s plan is to have the app bring the touch-based Windows 7 OS to OnLive users, effectually porting Adobe Flash and Microsoft Silverlight to iOS and Android devices.

For now you’re stuck with spectating–but it’s not all that bad actually. Download the free app here and give it a whirl.  An Android version is currently in beta.

[Via IGN; Gizmodo]

Augmented reality-based instant translation? There’s an app for that.

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This has to be the coolest app made for the iPhone yet.  Word Lens uses augmented reality to instantly translate printed words from one language to another.  It’s simple: Hold up your phone’s camera to a sign containing foreign words and the app will convert it to your native tongue on-the-fly.  This terse explanation doesn’t do the app justice; you’ve gotta watch the demonstration above to get the full effect.

An app so powerful has to have limits, right?  Word Lens only supports Spanish-to-English and English-to-Spanish translation for now and it cannot read very stylized fonts, handwriting, or cursive.  The demonstration shows the app working quite flawlessly; realistically there will be times when conversions are not 100% accurate so the developer (Quest Visual) allows users to manually type in words to find translations.  But here’s a plus: the app does not rely on network or Internet connectivity to make translations happen.

Word Lens is available now as a free download in the App Store; however you must pay $4.99 for an in-app purchase language pack to get things started.  It’s compatible with iPhone 4, 3GS, and the latest gen iPod touch.

Rockstar uses MotionScan tech to bring video game realism to a new level

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Rockstar is currently developing “a dark and violent detective thriller” video game set in the 1940s called L.A. Noire.  In addition to using motion-capture suits, the developers are utilizing a new kind of facial capture technology called MotionScan.  The suits capture character movements, and the MotionScan data “provides an unprecedented level of realism, detail, and emotion” to their facial expressions and reactions.  The game actors sit in a room surrounded by many cameras; they are dressed up for the part and speak their lines aloud as the cameras captured their facial movements from every angle imaginable.  All of this gets converted digitally and the result is a high resolution 3D model of the actor’s head.  Said result is impressively realistic and promises to make it easier to discern when an in-game character is lying; a major theme of the game is to detect when people are lying.  L.A. Noire is due out for Xbox 360 and PS3 next year.  For now, take a look at how the MotionScan tech creates the 3D models in the video above; this will certainly change the way games are made in the foreseeable future.

Did you catch Fringe‘s John Noble make an appearance in the clip?  Get a closer look at the man and his 3D composite after the break.

[Via Joystiq] Continue reading Rockstar uses MotionScan tech to bring video game realism to a new level →

TIME Person of the Year is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (and other TIME Top 10 things)

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The man behind the social network has been crowned TIME’s Person of the Year “for connecting more than half a billion people and mapping the social relations among them, for creating a new system of exchanging information and for changing how we live our lives.”  Click here to read the 10-page cover article.  Zuck beat out the trapped Chilean Miners, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai, and The Tea Party.

The zine also named the top ten albums and songs of the year.  Here’s what they had to say about the #1 album, Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy: “Kanye West can seem like an attention-hungry young child who constantly tugs on his mother’s pant leg, saying, “Watch this! Watch this!” But once Kanye got our attention, instead of a simple somersault, he delivered the musical equivalent of a one-handed back handspring.”  Cee Lo Green’s “F**k You” is Time’s #1 song.  Look after the break to see the full listing of TIME’s top ten albums and songs.

Other TIME Top 10 things worth noting: in the Top 10 TV Series category they included Parks and Rec, Party Down, and Boardwalk Empire; in the Top 10 TV episodes they included Community‘s “Modern Warfare”, Lost‘s “The End”, and Fringe‘s “Peter” (!).  Really digging the selection here.  The Social Network and Toy Story 3 are listed in the Top 10 Movies category, Angry Birds is a top video game, and Merton on Chatroulette, Bed Intruder, and Double Rainbow are favorite viral videos.  Again, look after the break to see the full listings from all of these categories to see if your favorites made the cut.  Or you can opt to head over to TIME to view many other Top 10 categories ranging from popular toys to scientific discoveries.

[Via TIME, here & here] Continue reading TIME Person of the Year is Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (and other TIME Top 10 things) →

How the world searched, tweeted, and YouTube’d in 2010

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Ah 2010, what a year it has been.  What’s the best way to find out what was on everyone’s minds over the course of the past year?  By looking at the top Google searches, top Twitter trends, and most watched YouTube videos, duh!  The search giant has gone all out this year with their public Google Zeitgeist 2010.  What were this year’s hottest search terms?  Well, just look in the bar graph above!  The creepy video chat service Chatroulette took the top prize as the fastest rising query, and the rest of the list includes celebrities Justin Bieber, Nicki Minaj, Katy Perry, Apple’s iPad, game portals Friv and GameZer, ringtone maker Myxer, and social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.  Click here to browse the entire Google Zeitgeist report.  Search terms are categorized subject matter and region, and Google also put together some snazzy interactive maps to support the data analytics.

Look after the break to learn about the most popular Twitter trends and the most watched YouTube videos of 2010. Continue reading How the world searched, tweeted, and YouTube’d in 2010 →

The nostalgic tale of C60 Redux reminds us about the physicality of music, or lack thereof

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From a melancholic loss to a tangible idea the C60 Redux was made.

In the book I Miss My Pencil, co-authors Martin Bone and Kara Johnson of design firm IDEO conceived twelve design experiments through collaboration, sketching, and prototyping.  One of these concept designs is called the C60 Redux and it begs the question, “Does the mix tape still exist in a digital world?”  Bone shares his thoughts: “I feel strangely melancholic that in this shift from analog to digital we somehow lost something; we traded connection for convenience.”  And he gloomily concludes: “Ultimately this experiment won’t change anything; technology marches on, teenagers in love today play out their courtship online in their Facebook pages, not browsing record stacks. But I feel much better for having done it.”

This particular experiment inspired a group at IDEO to make a real working model of the C60 Redux and their efforts are revealed in the video above.  Something was “somehow lost” in the technological shift from analog to digital, thought Bone.  That something is physicality, and so the designers marched on to create a working model with this question in mind: “What if we could touch our music again?”  Using Arduino Pro Mini boards and RFID tags the concept came to life.  The designers constructed a small box that takes design cues from a record player, and built inside are Arduino boards that can read RFID (or radio-frequency identification) cards. Embedded inside custom-made cards are two RFID tags, each tag representing a song.  When you place a card on top of the box, the circuitry inside the box instantly reads the RFID tag and plays the song stored on it.  Flip a card over to play Side B.  Place multiple cards on the surface to create a playlist (the cards are read in a clockwise order).

And just like that a mere concept born out of a need to bring back the physicality of music was made into a real product.  Beyond the final product, what’s important to glean from this story is the tale of technology and how it can bring exciting advances and at the same time disregard staples of the past.  In the move from vinyl to cassette tapes to CDs to MP3s, the convenience of throwing a couple hundred songs on an iPod has managed to make most forget about the materiality of music and what that brought with it.  The days of collecting piles of vinyl and what Bone calls the “joy and love” of creating personal mix tapes are way behind us, but something like the C60 Redux might just have the power to bring it all back to our digital world.

[Via Engadget; IMissMyPencil]

These 3D holographic prints don’t need no stinkin’ glasses to work

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Zebra Imaging specializes in making holographic images, and their latest prints really know how to impress even the most skeptical “Is 3D our future?” individual.  In the video embedded above you’ll see a holographic map (or “ZScape”) of Seattle.  The company uses a wide array of digital source data and renders the data into tens of thousands of images which are the recorded using laser light onto a film-based holographic material.  As you can see in the demonstration, a full color 360-degree viewing range can be seen under a simple halogen or LED light source, no special 3D glasses required.  The prints are extremely durable and are designed to be rolled up and even marked on.  The sheer amount of detail in the holographic maps is quite remarkable.  The company has manufactured over 8,000 images utilized by the US military overseas for visualization and defense planning applications, but also cater to anyone who wants a 3D image in holographic form.  Surprisingly their pricing options aren’t wildly expensive; $1,500 for a 12” x 18” print and their largest print size 2′ x 3′ goes for $3,500. Look after the break to see a “net engineering” hologram.

[Via Engadget; ZebraImaging]

Continue reading These 3D holographic prints don’t need no stinkin’ glasses to work →

AR-Tee brings augmented reality magic to your chest

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The concept is simple, really.  You’ve seen it before.  With the AR-Tee, designed by Sebastian Merchel, you can watch content inside that TV graphic thanks to the trick of augmented reality.  Printed inside the TV graphic is a custom-made QR code that gets read by your webcam.  When you hold up the t-shirt to your webcam you’ll see some old cartoons play on your computer screen.  It may not blow your mind, but it should make you the life of a party.  Look after the break to watch the magic happen.  Click here to find the AR-Tee in your size.

[Via Engadget] Continue reading AR-Tee brings augmented reality magic to your chest →

Watch the Google Chrome notebook get destroyed in more ways than one

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In this unorthodox demonstration video Chrome UX designer Glen Murphy destroys a Cr-48 Chrome OS notebook.  Since Chrome OS relies on the cloud to store data, it doesn’t matter what happens to your computer.  Get it?

2010 Video Game Awards honor Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2 (debut trailers enclosed)

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Saturday night Spike aired the 2010 Video Game Awards hosted by Neil Patrick Harris.  Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption beat out CoD: Black Ops, God of War III, Halo: Reach, and Mass Effect 2 for the coveted Game of the Year award; Redemption also won Best Original Score and Best DLC for “Undead Nightmare.”  Mass Effect 2 managed to prove its worthiness by taking home Best RPG and Best Xbox 360 Game; game developer Bioware was crowned Studio of the Year.  Other notable winners include: God of War III (Best Graphics, Best PS3 Game), CoD: Black Ops (Best Shooter), Halo: Reach (Best Multiplayer Game), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Best Wii Game), and Limbo (Best Independent Game).

In addition to handing out awards, the VGAs are also used as a platform for game developers and studios to premiere titles and announce surprises about future releases.  The biggest announcements include: Mass Effect 3 is slated for a Holiday 2011 release; Professor Hugo Strange has been confirmed as Batman: Arkham City‘s main villain (in a new fantastic CGI trailer it is revealed that Strange knows Batman’s true identity); Bethesda Studios put together a teaser trailer for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and the game’s set to release November 11, 2011; Insomniac Games’ Resistance 3 ships September 6, 2011; Activision officially announced a sequel to Prototype and it’s expected to drop in 2012; Turn 10 is bringing Forza Motorsport 4 to Xbox 360 in Fall 2010 with Kinect support; EA resurrected the SSX franchise with SSX: Deadly Descents, and gone are the cartoony graphics–they have been thrown out and a more realistic approach to the snowboarding genre has been implemented; Thor: God of Thunder will complement the superhero’s spring theatrical release on May 3, 2011; Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War franchise, is confirmed as a playable character in the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot game (he’s a PS3 exclusive); developer Volition (Red Faction, Saints Row) is teaming up with filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (Hell Boy, Pan’s Labyrinth) to create a horror game called Insane due out at in 2013; and finally Naughty Dog closed out the show with an extended trailer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and revealed it’s release date: 11/1/11.

Hop after the break to see the full list of winners and watch game trailers for the titles mentioned above.

[Via Spike; IGN; CraveOnline] Continue reading 2010 Video Game Awards honor Red Dead Redemption, Mass Effect 2 (debut trailers enclosed) →

This post is packed with TRON goodies including a music video, headphones, and a hotel room [Update: NSFW Playboy photoshoot]

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(1) Medicom Toy is celebrating the collaboration between Tron: Legacy and legendary electric duo Daft Punk by producing the masked musicians in Kubrick and RAH (Real Action Hero) form.  They will release in late December as part of the Series 21 BE@RBRICK assortment ($4.99).  The 400% BE@RBRICK ($199.99) and KUBRICK ($19.99) two-packs will release in mid-January.  The RAH figures are expected to come out in April at $229.99 each.  All the Daft Punk-inspired toys will feature the same outfits and helmets the duo wears in the cameo they make in the film.

Look after the break for so much more Tron content. Continue reading This post is packed with TRON goodies including a music video, headphones, and a hotel room [Update: NSFW Playboy photoshoot] →

More Google news: Chrome 8, Chrome Web Store, Chrome OS

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If you couldn’t figure it out by reading the post title, Google’s web browser that could is being upgraded across the board.  And when I say across the board, I really mean across platforms.  In addition to bringing a slew of updates to the standard Chrome browser in version 8, Google also spilled more details about the Chrome Web Store and its forthcoming operating system based on the browser itself.  All of the juicy details were shared at a Chrome-themed press event on Tuesday, just one day after Google dropped the Android 2.3 with Nexus S bomb.  To say the G-Men dominated this week in tech would be a nasty understatement.  Ready, set, dive…

Chrome 8: Earlier this week Google pushed out the latest update for its desktop browser.  Chrome 8 includes many welcome additions such as a speedy built-in PDF reader and automatic updates.  At the press event, Google previewed some upcoming features that will become fully integrated into the browser in the near future.  First up  is an update to the URL bar, or what the company likes to call the “Omnibox.”  Following in the footsteps of the Google search bar, the Omnibox will handle Google Instant searches.  Chrome will show search results and loading web pages as you type in the box; this saves you the step of pointing the browser to Google.com and then making a search.  Search and Instant Search have become one in the Omnibox.  On top of this, the browser will pick up on your most frequently visited sites and will direct you instantly to them as you type.  For example, if you visit ESPN.com often, when you type the letter “e” in the Omnibox ESPN will start to load up; pretty neat, eh?  Google also boasted browser speed and performance improvements.  Chrome now runs complex JavaScript programs up to twice as fast as before (they say an impending speed enhancement called “Crankshaft” will make the browser 100x faster than what IE’s speed was two years ago, and that’s mighty impressive) and there’s full WebGL support.  If you have a copy of Chrome installed on your computer, an automatic update to version 8 should happen the next time you open it.  And again, expect the Instant Omnibox and crazy speed enhancement to hit the browser soon.

Chrome Web Store: Everyone knows about Apple’s App Store, and it’s about time word of Google’s Chrome Web Store got around.  The concept is simple.  The Web Store houses Chrome Extensions, Themes, and most importantly web apps.  What are web apps and how do they differ from plain ‘ol apps?  Google describes them as “advanced interactive websites”, but essentially they are apps built specifically for use inside a browser.  And that comes with perks–the best one being that you never have to worry about updating them.  Since they live on the web in your browser, updates can be automatically pushed out from the developer at any time without you ever having to think about it.  All web app purchases are tied to your Google Account.  Perk alert!  Since that’s the case, all your purchases app live in the cloud and not on your computer, meaning they can be accessed from any Internet-connected device with a browser (i.e. another computer, a smartphone, etc.).  Google is also making it so that apps can work offline, leaving it up to the developer’s discretion.  Many developers are already jumping on board to make web apps.  At the press event Amazon showcased Kindle for the Web, an app that allows ebook readers to read their purchased titles inside a browser.  And no surprise here; your reading library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights will be saved and seamlessly transported to any device you have the Kindle app installed on (said devices include the iOS lineup, Android phones, and obviously a Kindle reader).  The Store also hosts some games, but don’t expect to find anything mindblowing in that genre just yet.  It’s up and running today, so head over to the Chrome Web Store and check it out.  The layout will be familiar to you; app categories on the left, top paid and free on the right, featured apps in the middle.  Go wild. Continue reading More Google news: Chrome 8, Chrome Web Store, Chrome OS →