Wednesday, June 01, 2016

Double Robotics turns its telepresence robot into a VR rig

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/06/01/double-robotics-360-camera-dolly/

There's one big problem with trying to capture virtual reality video while moving... those pesky humans. Even if you have stabilizing gear, the person carrying the camera will still limit what and how you shoot. Double Robotics has a simple answer to that, though: its newly-launched 360 Camera Dolly robot transforms the company's telepresence bot into a remotely controlled, silent VR camera rig. If you want to record a cinematic tracking shot or college campus tour, you don't need any people or noisy equipment on the scene.

The dolly has an attachable mount that accepts virtually any VR camera array weighing less than 5 pounds, including those built for action cameras and smartphones. It's not a trivial purchase at $3,000 for a full kit (the same as the regular telepresence robot), but that's still reasonable for pro VR productions. And if you only need the mount, you can buy it by itself for $249.

Source: Double Robotics

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Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Samsung's new 512GB SSD is smaller than a postage stamp

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/31/samsungs-new-512gb-ssd-is-smaller-than-a-postage-stamp/

Storage in your laptop or smartphone is a compromise between volume, access speed and physical size. But, the industry's competition to shrink them while boosting their specifications is fierce. A few months after shipping a 16TB solid-state drive, Samsung has announced a fast, efficient 512GB SSD that's half the size of a postage stamp.

Samsung's press release claims that the drive is the first mass-produced 512GB SSD with non-volatile memory express (NVMe), a host-controller interface with a streamlined register for speed, in a single package. Unlike other hard drives in multi-chip packages (MCP), Samsung's new drive is organized in a ball grid array into a collected unit, making it simpler to fit in and connect to other parts in the device. This makes the drive ideal for the ultra-slim notebook PC market, where space and weight are at a premium.

A senior Samsung VP said in a press release that the tiny drive triples the performance of a typical SATA SSD. Its read/write speeds of up to 1,500MB/s and 900MB/s, respectively, mean you could transfer a 5GB HD video in 3 seconds. Samsung will start selling the drive in June in 512GB, 256GB and 128GB models.

Source: Samsung

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Up close with the ASUS ZenFone 3 series

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/30/asus-zenfone-3-deluxe-ultra-hands-on/

Like it does every year at Computex, ASUS announced a bunch of new smartphones that won't break the bank. Only this time, the best-looking device turned out to be the base model: the ZenFone 3. I managed to get some hands-on time with this $249 device and to my surprise, it looks just as good in real life thanks to the spun-metal finish on the back. It also has a more premium feel than its predecessor due to the switch from a plastic body to a combination of metallic frame and 2.5D glass panels. At this price point (with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage), there's little to complain about, but it'll take some real-life usage to see if the mid-range Snapdragon 625 will suit your needs.

The high-end ZenFone 3 Deluxe isn't far off either. It has a metal unibody case that's subtly curved on the back for better ergonomics, and unlike most competing metallic phones, the Deluxe manages to cover up most of its antenna bands -- the remaining bits are just on the body's chamfer. Still, I wouldn't mind having the ZenFone 3's body for the Deluxe as I'm more mesmerized by its concentric circles on the back, which is more effective than the same effect applied to the Deluxe's chin and ear pillow on the front side. On a more positive note, the Deluxe's Super AMOLED screen is visibly more vibrant, though we've yet to find out how well it performs under daylight. As for performance, we're confident that the 6GB of RAM (at $499, with 32GB of storage) plus the Snapdragon 820 will keep things running smoothly, assuming the final software build won't have any major bugs.

This leaves us with the 6.8-inch ZenFone 3 Ultra. Compared to its two smaller siblings, the Ultra has a less exciting design, featuring a flat metal unibody simply decorated with a chamfer, but at least it feels solid like the other two. As with the ZenFone 2, the Ultra's volume keys are also placed on the back, which is a bit odd given that the other two ZenFone 3 models have them on the side. On a similar note, the Ultra's fingerprint reader is located on the front side instead of the back like on its siblings, which perhaps makes more sense given that you're less likely to be holding up the phablet as often; it is notably heavier, after all (233g instead of the Deluxe's 170g), mainly because of the generous 4,600mAh battery.

One thing I must praise is that those dual speakers at the bottom are super loud, which says a lot because even the single speaker on the lesser ZenFone 3 models is already pretty powerful. I just wish they were facing the front. $479 for this model gets you 4GB RAM and 64GB of storage, so even though it's running on a Snapdragon 652 (which should be more than plenty for everyday use), it probably wouldn't take much to convince those who are addicted to watching videos on the road. As to how big that market is, only time will tell.

Based on my early hands-on time, it's safe to say that ASUS is generally headed in the right direction with its latest smartphones, but there are still questions remaining: Are the cameras as good as they claim to be? And how stable is the latest ZenUI? We'll need to spend some more time with these devices -- and fully put them through their paces -- to know for sure.

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Intel's 7th generation of Core CPUs are coming later this year

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/31/intel-will-release-7th-generation-of-core-cpus-later-this-year/

Besides its $1,723 10-core Core i7 Extreme Edition processor, Intel just teased some other chip news during its keynote presentation at Computex. There aren't many details available, but the company confirmed the the 7th generation of its Core CPU technology will go on sale later this year. They will be joined by its Apollo Lake chips, which are a cheaper version of the current 6th gen Skylake family. Apollo Lake should bring 4K video capability and USB-C to cheaper, 2-in-1 laptop/tablet style devices with smaller batteries. As far as the 7th generation of Core CPUs, buyers can expect support for Thunderbolt 3, and IR cameras used for features like Windows Hello's facial recognition.

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Digital Storm's latest gaming all-in-one packs a 10-core CPU

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2016/05/31/digital-storm-aura-gaming-all-in-one-pc/

The trend of gigantic all-in-one gaming PCs isn't ending any time soon. Digital Storm has unveiled a new version of the Aura, a 34-inch curved system that packs some truly high-end hardware. To begin with, it's one of the first PCs to use Intel's enthusiast-oriented, Broadwell-E-based Core i7 Extreme Edition processors -- you can equip it with up to a 10-core chip if you're bent on juggling multiple apps at the same time. You can also stuff in a GeForce GTX 1080 to make sure games play smoothly at the Aura's ultra-wide 3,440 x 1,440 resolution.

As with other all-in-ones of this caliber, you're not giving up hardware upgrades to save space. Digital Storm promises that you can replace just about everything, including the graphics card and the motherboard. It even supports liquid cooling, in case you hate the idea of a noisy (or just hot-running) rig. Just be prepared to open your wallet if you like the concept. The Aura starts at $1,999, and history suggests that you'll be paying much more to get your dream machine.

Source: Digital Storm

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