Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Forget The Playstation 4 And XBox One, This Device Actually Lets You Run Around Inside Video Games

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/virtuix-omni-product-test-2013-11

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The Virtuix Omni is a virtual reality gaming platform that lets you walk, run, and move around like you're actually in the game.

It's hands down the most immersive gaming experience we've seen so far. The simulator is currently available to pre-order at $499.

Just strap yourself into the Virtuix Omni platform, put on the Oculus Rift headset, and get ready to run. You have to physically move your body to advance in whatever game you're playing.

So, with the help of CEO Jan Goetgeluk and his Virtuix Omni team, we headed over to the Engadget Expand conference to experience first-hand how this platform works.

Produced by William Wei & Justin Gmoser

SEE ALSO: We Beat The Crap Out Of A 'ShatterProof' iPhone With Hammers, Drills, And Sanders

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The Prettiest iPad Drawing App Now Has the Prettiest Stylus Companion

Source: http://gizmodo.com/the-prettiest-ipad-drawing-app-now-has-the-prettiest-st-1466927735

The Prettiest iPad Drawing App Now Has the Prettiest Stylus Companion

Have you used Paper by 53 Design? It's that iPad drawing app that is so decked out in pretty, design-y, feel-good-ness that it makes all who use it feel like Matisse. Well, now its creators have put out an equally gorgeous stylus.

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China's Nubia offers Android phone with Snapdragon 800 and 16GB storage for $330

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/nubia-z5s-lte-mini-china/

It was only just over a month ago when ZTE's premium brand Nubia made its debut launch in the US, and today the company's already launching follow-up models in China. Starting with the Z5S, this is essentially the Z5 (or simply the 5 in the US) packed with some new goodies: a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 SoC, a 5-megapixel front camera, a dedicated camera button, 4K video capture, a multi-purpose infrared remote feature and rare support for all three 3G networks in China (China Mobile's TD-SCDMA, China Telecom's CDMA2000 and China Unicom's WCDMA).

The rest of the phone is pretty much the same as before: 5-inch 1080p (443ppi) LCD, 2.67mm bezel, 7.6mm thickness, 2GB RAM, 2,300mAh battery, and a 13-megapixel main camera with f/2.2 aperture plus digital image stabilization.

There's also a Z5S LTE that supports both FD-LTE Band 3 plus China's TD-LTE Band 38/40. Additionally, its main camera is enhanced with an f/2.0 aperture with optical image stabilization, and voice calls should be clearer on the other end courtesy of the three microphones for noise cancellation. This model starts from CN¥3,456 (about US$570) with 32GB storage, but if you don't mind using 3G only then the Z5S starts from just CN¥1,999 (about US$330) for the 16GB version.

Interestingly, the Z5S costs -- maybe intentionally -- the same as the similarly specced Xiaomi MI3, except Nubia is already taking orders on November 26th via JD.com (delivery to within China only, sorry!), whereas Xiaomi is still waiting for the slightly faster Snapdragon 800 variant before it can ship the WCDMA and CDMA2000 flavors of the phone later this year (the MI3 is currently only available with Tegra 4 plus TD-SCDMA radio). And of course, it's just a matter of time before Nubia brings these over to the US market.

Last but not least, you have the 4.7-inch Z5S mini and Z5S mini LTE. Unlike their larger siblings, these two are more similar to their predecessor in terms of specs. These include the 2.67mm bezel, microSD expansion, 13MP/5MP camera combo, swappable back cover and the support of the three 3G networks in China. The main differences are the newer 1.7GHz Snapdragon 600 chip, a new IGZO 720p display, a smaller 2,000mAh battery (instead of 2,300mAh) and a slightly different appearance -- the main camera is now off-center, for instance.

There's no word on which LTE bands the Z5S mini LTE supports just yet, but interested folks should start saving up CN¥2,345 (about US$390) for the 32GB model. As for the budget conscious lot, the 3G-only Z5S mini starts from just CN¥1,499 (about US$250) with 16GB storage, and it's also available for purchase in China starting on November 26th. Again, stay tuned for US availability.

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Engadget Chinese

Source: Nubia (Chinese)

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Toshiba's new Kira Ultrabook promises 22 hours of use on a single charge

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/19/toshiba-kira-ultrabook-22-hour-battery-life/

Toshiba's new Kira Ultrabook promises 22 hours on a single charge

We praised Toshiba's last flagship Ultrabook for its brilliant screen and speedy boot-up time, but the company's newest Kirabook has a notable new feature -- an estimated 22 hours of battery life. Intel's new Haswell chips may have shifted our expectations of what we expect laptops can deliver battery-wise, but almost running a whole day remains an impressive feat. That's Toshiba's claim for its new Dynabook KIRA V654, which sidesteps touch compatibility on its 13-inch 1,366 x 768 resolution screen to add to the battery savings and weighs in at just 1.12kg. Alongside an additional high-resolution model (2,560 x 1,440), if you simply must have swipeable screens on your Windows 8 machine, there's also the similarly-sized Dynabook Kira V834, although that model will only manage a paltry 14 hours of work and / or play. (We kid.)

The two machines will launch in Japan on 20th November, with the touch-capable V834 starting at 153,000 yen ($1,530), while the endurance-specialized V634 will start at 144,000 yen (roughly $1,446). As is often the way with these made-in-Japan PCs, there's no word on whether the rest of the world will get to see either model yet, but we'll let you know if we hear anything from Toshiba.

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Via: Engadget Japanese

Source: Toshiba

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Monday, November 18, 2013

Inside Supercell's Finnish Headquarters, Where It Makes Millions Of Dollars Per Day

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/supercell-office-tour-2013-11

supercellFinnish gaming company Supercell has been creating a lot of hype lately.

It is a $3 billion company largely in part to the success of its games Hay Day and Clash of Clans.

Clash of Clans and Hay Day are both among the top-ten grossing apps in the iTunes Store, according to AppData. Supercell generates over $2.4 million per day in revenue, on average, according to data released earlier this year.

Business Insider recently had the chance to visit Supercell in Helsinki.

Note: Supercell would not allow us to take photos of its employees, nor their screens.

Disclosure: Finnish funding agency Tekes and Finnfacts, a non-profit media service organization in Finland, paid for my trip to Helsinki to explore the startup scene.

Supercell has space at Itämerenkatu 11 in Helsinki, Finland.



Here's the view from the inside. Only a couple of startups currently occupy the building. Another notable startup that resides here is Jolla, a smartphone company that spun out of Nokia.



When you first walk inside Supercell, you'll see an interactive screen that displays real-time user logins.



See the rest of the story at Business Insider
    






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Engadget is getting a whole lot bigger: profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/18/engadget-is-getting-a-whole-lot-bigger-profiles-forums-produc/

Engadget is getting a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

A few days ago we launched the best designed version of Engadget ever, and today we're about to get bigger. A lot bigger.

Back in 2008 when Peter Rojas and I departed Engadget to found gdgt, we had a hunch that the future would be driven by the intersection of social, interest, and product graphs. Today we're bringing it all home, integrating the best of gdgt into Engadget.

This means Engadget readers will have access to user profiles, forums + Q&A, and a massive, highly organized product database (among many other things). Finally.

Not only is this by far our biggest launch ever, it also marks a major turning point in our history, redefining the Engadget of today and laying the foundation for the Engadget of tomorrow.

I can't wait to tell you everything about all the new stuff Engadget can do for you, read on!

User profiles and gadget lists

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

Starting today we've got a lot of new things to offer including building your gadget lists, participating in forums, writing user reviews, editing our product database, and plenty more so your first step should probably be to go register for an account!

If you previously registered for an account on gdgt, don't sweat it, that is now your Engadget account, and your data has been fully ported over just log in! If you didn't ever register for gdgt, well, go register now, there are still a ton of great usernames available!

Once you've got a profile, keeping track of (and showing off) your products has never been easier. See something you want? With one click, you can get relevant updates (like new reviews and price alerts). And for those products you already own or have owned, we can also keep track of your purchase date, serial number, and lots of other information. Build your Engadget profile and show off your collection!

One small thing to note: our commenting tool (Livefyre) doesn't in any way plug into your Engadget account. Not ideal, we know, but stay tuned.

Forums + Q&A

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

There's so much more to be said about the entire universe of technology than can be said in comment threads, and finally you've got an outlet to say it here on Engadget. We've curated some of the best, highest quality technology discussions and technology Q&A threads anywhere on the internet.

So go familiarize yourself with our Community Guidelines and go nuts. Okay, don't go that nuts our aim is and will always be to keep the commons high-brow. We're looking for the cool kids with something smart, interesting, helpful, or constructive to say which is why we can't wait to see you over there posting in the forums!

User reviews

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

Ever feel the urge to share your opinions about your devices? Well, now you've got access to the easiest, best-designed product review system anywhere. Add a product to your Engadget list, pull the criteria sliders, maybe drop in a few comments, and you're ready to share it with the world. This is how reviews were meant to be written and read.

Product database

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

Engadget's universe got a lot bigger with the addition of our massive new hand-crafted, fully-editable product database, containing some of the highest-quality entries on tens of thousands of devices across the entire spectrum of consumer electronics. We aren't kidding when we say we have tens of thousands of reviews, and millions of spec data points to pore over. For a taste, go check out our pages on the Xbox One and PS4, or the iPad mini and Nexus 5.

See a missing product? Go add it to the database! See something wrong with some product specs already in the system? Submit an edit to the page! Your contributions are what makes our database so great, and we need the help of experts like you to keep it ship-shape.

The Engadget Global Score

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

One of the things you're sure to see around the site is our new Engadget Global Score, a unique ranking of products based on extensive independent research and analysis by our expert editorial and research teams.

We arrive at our Global Scores only after curating hundreds, sometimes thousands of weighted data points (such as critic and user reviews), and in the next few weeks we'll fully launch our new scoring strategy, including the Global Score's fully-editorial counterpart: the Engadget Score.

Together, the Engadget Score + Global Score will represent the only product rating system you'll ever need. More on this soon.

Price alerts

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

Looking for a deal, but waiting for the right moment to strike? Sign up for a price alert, and we'll drop you an email the moment a device dips in price. But be sure to act fast, sometimes those prices jump right back up!

Product comparisons

Engadget gets a whole lot bigger profiles, forums, product database, and so much more!

If you've ever wanted a better quantitative view of multiple products at once, meet your new best friend. Our product comparisons draw from an enormous number of spec data points across tens of thousands of products to help you get the best possible birds-eye view of the devices you're interested in. We also save your comparisons for later (like this one)!

The future

Our goal is nothing short of making Engadget the most useful, advanced, and thoughtfully designed place on the internet to learn about personal technology, and that doesn't just end with our world-class news and editorial.

Engadget's come a long way, but we're only getting started in building a new, brighter future where finding the right product to buy, and sharing your passion for technology is as easy as getting the day's news and opinions.

Join us in the future, won't you? Engadget will be there.

P.S. -I'd be remiss not to thank everyone who made this launch possible, including our tireless product teams (Logan Bailey, Cass Chin, Michael Cosentino, Evan Fribourg, Rick Garner, Paul Heuts, Lydia Katsamberis, Mitchell McKenna, Conrad Muan, Erik Sagen, Brett Terpstra, and Jon Ursenbach), our world-class ops team (Chris Stolfi, Ameir Abdeldayem, and Kevin Pettit), and our incredibly supportive executive team (Susan Lyne, Jay Kirsch, and Ned Desmond).

I also have to give a big thanks to Marc Perton, Dana Wollman, Chris Trout, Kris Naudus, Frank Spinillo, Dave Schumaker, and, of course, the entire Engadget editorial and product research staffs. And last but absolutely not least, my friend, co-founder, and creator of Engadget, Peter Rojas. This moment has been almost ten years in the making, and I'm insanely proud to share it with everyone involved.

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Google Has To Pay $17 Million For Dropping Cookies In Apple's Safari Browser For iPhone

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/google-17-million-cookie-settlement-2013-11

google Larry Page and Sergey BrinGoogle and Apple are at it again. On Monday, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced that Google had reached a settlement with 37 states including Washington D.C., Florida, Illinois, Ohio, Maryland, New Jersey, Texas and California over placing unauthorized cookies in the Safari Web browser found on various Apple devices. 

The case began in 2011 and 2012 when the states discovered tracking of Safari users after visits to Google's DoubleClick ad network. Cookies are small files embedded in a computer that contain trace amounts of data based on visitor history. Based on the information they have, cookies offer its clients the ability to make tailored Web pages. In the statement given by Schneiderman, he said that Google directly violated customers privacy who deserve the right to know if someone is following them while they browse the Web. He continued by asserting that Google had violated several privacy laws as well.

Google will have to pay $17 million to the 37 states in the lawsuit.

Google changed the coding for DoubleClick in 2011 to bypass the privacy settings found in Safari despite the fact that the browser blocks third party programs like this.

Google seemed happy to reach the settlement. The company wanted to ensure it respected customers privacy so it removed these ad cookies from Apple's servers. Google promised it would give consumers more information about their b! rowsing history. Google acknowledged in the settlement that it would only override cookie blocking settings for urgent situations such as fraud or identity theft.

 


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Bitcoin mining motherboards promise huge profits (for your energy provider)

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/18/asrock-bitcoin-motherboards/

Motherboard manufacturer exploit lust for Bitcoin

As Bitcoins have become more valuable, they've also become much harder to accumulate using the mathematical process known as "mining." This air of futility hasn't fazed ASRock, however, as the company has revealed two new motherboards that promise to help DIY-ers to "join the gold rush now!" The H61 Pro BTC and H81 Pro BTC are both Intel socket boards, with the latter being Haswell compatible, and their main party trick is to carry extra PCIe slots and power connectors so you can exploit the compute power of up to six graphics cards simultaneously.

What ASRock doesn't specify, however, is how much profit one of its fully-loaded mining motherboards might deliver. So, although we're quite deliberately not experts at this stuff (aside from a bit of armchair interest), we plugged some numbers into the Bitcoin Profitability Calculator, based on six Radeon HD 7990 cards running in parallel, and discovered that this monster of a system might never actually break even, due to its ridiculously high energy costs. This could well explain why all the big boys use dedicated ASIC boards for mining these days, instead of consumer-grade hardware.

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Via: Bit-tech

Source: ASRock [1], [2]

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NVIDIA unveils Tesla K40 accelerator, teams with IBM on GPU-based supercomputing

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/18/nvidia-unveils-tesla-k40-and-ibm-deal/

NVIDIA unveils Tesla K40, teams with IBM on supercomputing in the data center

NVIDIA's Tesla GPUs are already mainstays in supercomputers that need specialized processing power, and they're becoming even more important now that the company is launching its first Tesla built for large-scale projects. The new K40 accelerator only has 192 more processing cores than its K20x ancestor (2,880, like the GeForce GTX 780 Ti), but it crunches analytics and science numbers up to 40 percent faster. A jump to 12GB of RAM, meanwhile, helps it handle data sets that are twice as big as before. The K40 is already available in servers from NVIDIA's partners, and the University of Texas at Austin plans to use it in Maverick, a remote visualization supercomputer that should be up and running by January.

As part of the K40 rollout, NVIDIA has also revealed a partnership with IBM that should bring GPU-boosted supercomputing to enterprise-grade data centers. The two plan on bringing Tesla GPU support to IBM's Power8-based servers, including both apps and development tools. It's not clear when the deal will bear fruit, but don't be surprised if it turbocharges a corporate mainframe near you.

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Source: NVIDIA

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Google working on RAW support and improved camera features for Android

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/11/18/google-camera-API-raw-support-android/

Google working on RAW photo support for Android phones

Nokia may be the first to have delivered RAW photography in a smartphone, but there's evidence to suggest that Google isn't too far behind. A month-old batch of code, recently spotted by app developer Josh Brown, reveals that work has been underway on a new Android camera API that could allow smartphones to store uncompressed images alongside JPEG ones, drastically increasing the amount of correction and manipulation that can be accomplished after an image has been captured.

A second snippet from the API suggests that Android may get some level of stock support for modular or external cameras, perhaps like Sony's QX10 and QX100, although the meaning of the words is slightly ambiguous:

The camera device is removable and has been disconnected from the Android device, or the camera service has shut down the connection due to a higher-priority access request for the camera device.

Ars Technica has pointed out some other potential changes that are buried in the documentation, and rightly suggests that any imaging-related improvements would be a good thing for Android right now. Even with Sony's Xperia Z1, which contains one of the most powerful sensors currently found in an Android phone, it's the software that holds things back more than anything else, so extra features in the underlying OS could provide manufacturers with just the nudge they need.

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Google Git, Josh Brown (Google+)

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