Gem to supply Turtle Beach and Call of Duty gaming headsets

August 22nd, 2013, 14:17 Posted By: wraggster

Turtle Beach has appointed Gem Distribution to supply its range of multi-platform gaming headsets in the UK.
The new headsets will arrive in time for the holiday season, and will include next-generation headsets for the new Microsoft Xbox One console and Call of Duty: Ghosts branded headsets, as well as the Z7 and Z22 for the PC.
“Turtle Beach consistently delivers quality gaming headsets, making them the number one gaming audio brand in the world, and we’re delighted to be working with them during the launch of their new range,” said Anthony Haworth, Commercial Director for Gem Distribution.
Julian Woods, European Managing Director for Turtle Beach, added: “As the exclusive distributor of the Xbox One in the UK, Gem is an essential partner for us for the coming holiday.
"Through Gem’s expertise and unique relationships we will be able to increase access to our officially licensed Xbox One headsets across the country.”
Turtle Beach has enjoyed steady growth over the past three years. Its distribution footprint increased by more than 50 per cent in 2012. Turtle Beach branded headsets are distributed in 41 countries across North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...eadsets/031729

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Google reveals Field Trip app for Glass, puts recreational recommendations in your FO

August 22nd, 2013, 01:10 Posted By: wraggster


Perhaps you've been enjoying the fruits of Niantic Labs' endeavors on your handset since Field Trip's introduction on Android, and more recently, iOS. However, wouldn't it be nice to have those nifty tidbits of location-based info provided in a less obtrusive manner? Good news Explorers, because Field Trip has arrived on Glass today. That means that all those restaurant and activity suggestions upon which you depend to keep yourself entertained and fed are now delivered directly to your eyeball instead of your pocket.
If you're thinking that such a Glass app makes perfect sense, well you're not alone. It turns out that John Hanke, Niantic's chief actually made Field Trip for Glass, and the mobile versions were built simply as a way to get the app out to as many people as possible. That way, the database of info for the app could be built up and more feedback could be gathered and used to refine the Field Trip UX by the time it came to Glass. For folks wanting to see the results of all that hard work (and don't have the $1,500 wearable needed to see it firsthand), a video of the app in action awaits after the break.

http://www.engadget.com/2013/08/21/g...ield-trip-app/

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Are PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on divergent paths?

August 22nd, 2013, 00:47 Posted By: wraggster

Roundtable: The two next-gen platforms are quite similar technologically, but is Sony's developer focus a key differentiator after all?
Back in February, Sony first introduced the PS4 to the world as a console that put developers first. It sounded a bit like hyperbole at the time, but the more we've seen of Sony's new platform, the more it feels like Sony is sticking to its developer-centric guns. This last generation saw two consoles - Xbox 360 and PS3 - which had radical hardware architecture differences, and yet the respective approaches to the marketplace from Microsoft and Sony were quite similar.
This time around, as Microsoft scrambles to continually reverse its policies, and consumers prepare to purchase two pieces of hardware that are actually incredibly alike, one might think that the trends from the two companies in the previous generation would carry over into next-gen. Ironically, however, as close in specs as Xbox One and PS4 are, Microsoft and Sony would appear to be on increasingly different paths when it comes to content. As Microsoft looks to be doubling down on what worked best for the company on Xbox 360 (shooters, online multiplayer, Kinect) Sony is promoting unique titles coming to the PlayStation ecosystem like Tequila Works' Rime, The Chinese Room's Everybody's Gone to the Rapture, and Gaijin's War Thunder, to name a few.
While Microsoft has been making strides to offer a plan for indies with its ID@Xbox program, Sony has put a focus on developers at the core of the PS4 itself. As lead architect Mark Cerny said at Gamescom, "We've been able to architect the console that is by game creators, for game creators." Will the PS4 and Xbox One ultimately offer vastly different gaming experiences because of this? And what will the impact be on the marketplace? GamesIndustry International's staff discusses how Microsoft and Sony have evolved their strategies.
Brendan Sinclair
I can tell you the two systems are diverging because my decision to preorder a PS4 is looking more like a no-brainer with every passing week, while my decision not to buy an Xbox One (at least not anywhere near launch) is only becoming more concrete, no matter how many bad decisions Microsoft backtracks on.
"Consumers have three distinct options when it comes to consoles this generation. I only hope that each company's target market proves large enough to sustain this diversity"

The PS4 just has all the strange and ambitious (mostly indie) games that I want to play. N++, Rogue Legacy, Everybody's Gone to Rapture, the gorgeous Rime, Transistor, Volume, The Witness, Starbound, Octodad: Dadliest Catch, and it feels like dozens more. In light of PS Vita cross-buy on so many of those indie titles, the excellent PlayStation Plus service, and a preference for the couch-based console experience over PC gaming, the PS4 just has everything that I want. Over on the Xbox, I'll miss Below (until its inevitable move to other platforms), Dead Rising 3, Crimson Dragon, and D4. But that's about it. I don't care too much about franchises like Halo, Gears of War, Titanfall, Fable, and Forza. I care even less about Ryse: Son of Rome, and as much as I loved the original Killer Instinct, the idea of a reboot from a new development house with a bothersome new business model doesn't do much for me. However, I know a good number of gamers who would disagree with me on the above points. I also know that their tastes--like mine--are not representative of the industry as a whole. And this is one of the things making me optimistic for this coming generation of consoles. It looks like Microsoft and the Xbox One are focusing on the console market as it existed for this previous generation. And why not? The Xbox 360 did pretty well in a world dominated by shooters and sports games. On the other hand, Sony seems to be betting there's an audience for different, arguably more sophisticated gaming experiences, and Nintendo is off doing its own Nintendo thing with the Wii U. The result is that it looks like consumers will have three distinct options when it comes to consoles this generation. It's not just about which company has the better sci-fi shooter or the lower price tag. It's about which of these different approaches best suits you. I only hope that each company's target market proves large enough to sustain this diversity of offerings.
Steve Peterson
Microsoft is rapidly changing its policies to resemble Sony's policies, whether it's on used games or on working with indie developers. Just as the Xbox One and the PS4 share the same basic architecture, so too will the business models the companies use. Yes, the software lineup will have some variations, and those will be significant to gamers who are fans of a particular brand.
"The two consoles are in the same market chasing the same customers with the same basic hardware"

Ultimately both Sony and Microsoft realize the need for next-gen consoles to have a broader range of content than traditional publishers can provide, in order to compete with PC, online and mobile platforms' enormous array of choices. Both companies still have a long way to go. Sony's been trying to get indie developers on the PS Vita for a while, with some success - yet that hasn't turned into big sales for the handheld yet.
I really don't think the differences between the Xbox One and the PS4 are all that major, except for the $100 retail price difference. I think the two companies' policies and programs will tend to converge rather than diverge. Neither company is likely to get too far ahead of the other in terms of business models; Microsoft saw what happened when it tried to push too rapidly into the digital future. Some details may differ, but if there's a policy that results in a loss of indie developers it will be changed, sooner rather than later.
Free games monthly with your premium subscription on PlayStation? That's done very well for Sony, so Microsoft has added that. Requiring a premium subscription to player multiplayer online games? Microsoft has made billions doing that, so now Sony's added that little feature to its premium subscription. There will be some exclusive games for each console, but no major genre will be left unfilled. All the biggest third-party games will be on both consoles. In the end, the two consoles are in the same market chasing the same customers with the same basic hardware, and their policies will be very similar. If you want something really different in a console, try Nintendo or Ouya.
Mike Williams
So we have two companies providing featureless black boxes backed by similar policies and game libraries. This means we're going to see a battle over the details.
AAA game development is too expensive for major third-party publishers to favor one platform over another, so the differences in game libraries are down to indie games and what platform holders are willing to pay for. Sony has a lead on the former matter, while Microsoft's big pockets - remember they've invested $1 billion on Xbox One games - are holding down the latter.
"If Microsoft can launch prior to or during major game releases, they could capture the interest of gamers heading to retail"

Sony may be able to gain more ground if the Vita finally takes off and I think their presentation was an acknowledgement of that idea. The number of games coming simultaneously to PlayStation 4 and PlayStation Vita, Vita Remote Play, and the price drop on the portable could make for a compelling one-two punch this holiday. The Vita is quickly becoming a portable Steam console and Sony's focus on indies is paying off... at least to those in the industry. Will the mainstream public care about a wide variety of indie games on their Sony platforms? It'll depend on the company improving the discoverability on the PlayStation Store. Sony also needs to invest heavily in Cross-Buy so that purchasing the PS4 version of a game gives you the Vita version as well; anything that greases the rails.
One area I think Sony has overlooked is the launch date. A November 15th launch puts the PlayStation 4 after a few of this year's major game releases. Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag and Battlefield 4 are the last week of October, while Call of Duty: Ghosts is releasing in the first week of November. If Microsoft can launch prior to or during those major game releases, they could capture the interest of gamers heading to retail. It's no good having all those developers if gamers have already bought into the competing console.
I still think it's Sony's generation to lose, but Microsoft's spent the past few months making the gap smaller. Both companies' paths are parallel, not divergent; it's just a matter of who's going to run faster at this point.
Matt Martin
The only real difference I see between the consoles right now is the price. There's only a handful of platform exclusives between them, services on both consoles are looking the same, and Microsoft is catching up with the whole indie self-publishing situation. As cool, fun and innovative as N++, Resogun and Knack look to be, they're not system-sellers.
"Don't underestimate the price of these luxury items. The final decision for a majority of ordinary consumers comes down to the cash in their pocket"

In the first six to twelve months it'll be Call of Duty that sells consoles. Battlefield will sell consoles, FIFA and Madden will sell consoles and so will Assassin's Creed. In simple terms, why not just buy the cheaper PlayStation 4 and an extra couple of games for the same price as the Xbox One? Because on launch day if you're investing what is essentially a lot of money in one go, you want as much bang for your buck as possible.
Don't underestimate the price of these luxury items. Side by side, sitting on Amazon.com or in one of those old-fashioned shops, there's two very attractive home entertainment devices. I see new quirky games, I see familiar games I love and I see reassuring console brands. But then I also see those prices and I know how much I can justify spending on them. It's not about who's got the better exclusives, which console has the coolest interface and social features or where can I try out that weird indie game everyone is talking about. The final decision for a majority of ordinary consumers - not the dedicated early-adopters - comes down to the cash in their pocket. And right now, regardless of everything else, the PlayStation 4 is the better deal on the market.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...ivergent-paths

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EA impresses at Gamescom, despite too many buzzwords and too few genuinely new games

August 21st, 2013, 23:56 Posted By: wraggster

Pure Shot. BattlePacks. SpeedList. SmartSim. Match Flow. All Drive. Oh God, Levolution. EA’s Gamescom press conference crackled with the usual buzzwords used to describe the points of interest and innovations of its phalanx of upcoming games. This year in particular, though, the buzzword focus feels wrong. With a new generation about to appear, the buzzword trick of slapping a sheen of the new to familiar concepts seems wrongly placed. Isn’t this year, of all years, meant to bring us boatloads of genuinely new things?At Gamescom, EA is answering this question with no big new announcements, but a lot of promises for what the next generation holds. That’s not to say that its roster of games for the coming twelve months haven’t any ambition or verve, but what it says about EA’s vision for the next generation is definitely telling.It kicked off the whole event, with The Sims 4 executive producer Rachel Franklin spinning a vision of being able to play with “intelligent, emotionally aware beings,” with which you can “explore the gamut of human emotions”. Rage, lust, depression and anger, judging by the Sims-typical sadistic scenario she showed off, which ended with the object of two suitors’ affections showing off her art style. “Check out this hottie on the rocket. That’s a little suggestive!” cooed Franklin, inappropriately.This “next generation of The Sims games” certainly provides some advances to the series – its SketchUp-style house design tool, used to extrude rooms, and Sim sculpting tools and ability to tweak their animations seem to finally provide a resting place for Spore’s wonderful tech. Which is to say, it’s hardly new in and of itself.The Sims 4, annoucned at Gamescom today.

Command & Conquer’s outing didn’t try to impress with its ambitions at all, other than with the audacity of staging a purportedly live match between QA staff, which was remarkable for its scripted lack of drama, the free beer and pretzels promised to audience members who chose the winner of the bout, and a touch of cross promotion as one of the producer-commentators referenced Need For Speed.Speaking of which, the open world Rivals seems to come with the gritty sheen that Criterion always avoided but seems richer for drawing on Criterion’s design legacy in the form of Hot Pursuit and Most Wanted, while building on that with its loose mix of solo, cooperative and competitive play in its open world.One game that does seem to benefit strongly from the next generation is Dragon Age: Inquisition, which EA Labels president Frank Gibeau introduced as a “next generation RPG experience”. It certainly looks the part, with (another) open world made from varied locales and attention to detail and scale that will stratospherically improve on the bland environments of Dragon Age II.Another game that clearly shows off the benefits of a new generation of technology is UFC. It was a bit unfortunate that EA Sports head Andrew Wilson celebrated fighters who will “look precisely like themselves” under video of a blankly staring sweaty videogame man, but actually its physical rendering of popping veins, squashing flesh and straining faces looks eye-wateringly credible. So too its planting of feet directly on the canvas, without the frictionless skating that marks out movement in most other games. Physicality like this is perfect for UFC.Elsewhere, these benefits were natural extensions of where the games were already going. Battlefield 4’s multiplayer continues to suggest it’ll be precisely what we’d expect and hope it it to be – thunderous, huge, dynamic. And forget about the awful term Levolution, which even DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson seemed to falter in explaining, but it looks like it’ll mean we can do things like set off fire extinguishers – maybe flush toilets, too? Imagine.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/ea-i...ely-new-games/

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Oculus VR on why John Carmack joined the Rift revolution

August 21st, 2013, 23:55 Posted By: wraggster

When John Carmack was appointed as Oculus VR’s new CTO earlier this month, it represented a giant leap for the virtual reality company. In Carmack it has snared one of game development’s greatest minds, an industry figurehead with a great deal of knowledge, experience and a desire to explore what this new technology might do.His standing isn’t being underestimated by Oculus VR’s founder Palmer Luckey. “He’s a game god,” he says. “People can look and see someone like John getting involved with something – especially with a startup – is a really good indicator of something being legitimate.“John Carmack wouldn’t leave id Software and go to a new company if they were something that he didn’t think would be successful, and he’s had a pretty good track record of predicting successful technologies in the past, influencing them and making sure that they maximise their potential.”I ask whether the move reflects a certain restlessness in Carmack – firstperson shooters have evolved plenty since Wolfenstein 3D, but we’ve not really seen a fundamental change in the genre beyond the obvious technical improvements. Was this great pioneer getting bored of what’s possible with PC and console gaming?“It’s not necessarily boredom,” says Luckey. “There’s so much more you can do with VR than you can with traditional gaming on a console or on a PC. There are still ways to innovate on console and PC but it’s not this undiscovered, uncharted territory like in VR.”Oculus has a growing number of senior games industry figures joining its ranks. Former Activision senior vice president Laird Malamed became the VR firm’s COO in January, and he elaborates further on why Carmack chose Oculus. “I think something that also drove John early on – and continues to do so – was storytelling and experiences that were the most immersive possible. I think VR continues that trend.“It’s not like he woke up one day last year and thought ‘Oh, I think VR would be cool.’ He’s been following it for 20 years so his help in showing it initially and then coming to join us is him following a passion he’s had for a long time.”Luckey and Malamed are keen to emphasise that Carmack’s role at the company is full time, though there was a little confusion around the nature of his appointment. Malamed says that Carmack “became available as someone who could be hired recently,” and that he’d actually been working as a technical advisor for Oculus throughout July. “That migrated into a full time position,” says Malamed. “John has a number of advisory roles which he can talk about, it’s not right for me to talk about what he does. We’re comfortable that he’s putting the effort in – he’s sort of a workaholic so he’s never not working.”Luckey interjects mischievously: “But it’s worth noting that it wasn’t Carmack who said he was staying at id – that was id saying he was staying at id.”A few commenters have suggested that with Carmack on board, id’s games could end up as exclusives on Oculus Rift. “I know the speculation you’re talking about because I’ve been reading it – that he’s been working there and now he’s going to Oculus to integrate Doom 4 with the Rift as an exclusive,” says Luckey. “There’s nothing like that going on. Carmack was hired to work on our technology, not to port id titles to the Rift.”Oculus VR will now be opening a new office in Dallas, Carmack’s home town, and is currently recruiting more staff in the area.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/ocul...ft-revolution/

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Syrian Rebels Claim Hundreds Killed By Poison-Gas Attack

August 21st, 2013, 23:49 Posted By: wraggster

Haroon Siddique reports for The Guardian that opposition activists have accused forces loyal to the Assad regime of using chemical weapons in towns in the eastern Ghouta. Accounts of the death toll vary wildly. The British based Syrian Observatory of Human Rights put the number killed at 'dozens.' Others put the figure much higher. The Local Coordination Committees said 'hundreds' were killed, the majority of them civilians. Graphic videos purporting to show the victims of the attack have been posted online (WARNING: graphic) showing chaotic scenes of people, including children, having seizures, being treated, and dead bodies lined up. 'Symptoms of the patients include nausea, hallucinations, suffocation, hard coughing, high blood pressure, seizures etc,' says the Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC). 'There is still no clue of the chemical weapon/toxic gas that was used by the regime's forces to target the innocent civilians.' Ake Sellstrom, the Swedish scientist who heads the U.N. inspection team in Syria, told the Swedish media that he had seen only the television images of the alleged attacks. 'But the high number of wounded and dead they are speaking about sounds suspicious,' Sellström told Swedish news agency TT, via telephone from Damascus. 'It sounds like something one should take a look at.'. The official Syrian news agency called the reports 'untrue' and designed to derail a United Nations inquiry into charges of chemical weapons in the conflict.

http://tech.slashdot.org/story/13/08...son-gas-attack

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One Direction movie premiere hits 2m tweets

August 21st, 2013, 23:40 Posted By: wraggster

Debut movie, One Direction: This Is Us, about Simon Cowell's British boy band One Direction set Twitter aflame during yesterday's London launch.
One Direction may not have won The X Factor, nor did the members even enter the competition as a group in first place, but that hasn't stopped the world from having to endure the '1D' madness.
The fivesome's debut film, One Direction: This Is Us, premiered in London's Leicester Square last night and fans in their thousands gathered to squeal and bask in the stench of boy band mania.
As is usually the case for huge events, such as the Oscars and Olympics, Twitter experienced mass One Direction hysteria as there were over 3.6 million tweets about the group and the premiere yesterday.
Meanwhile, the huge monitor placed at the London movie landmark captured more than two million tweets about the event itself during the evening, while 1.9m tweets sported the #1DMoviePremiere hashtag.
In addition to the hashtag, Leicester Square and London were also trending in the UK and worldwide throughout the day.
And as if that weren't enough, 14.3 million followers makes One Direction the most followed UK band on Twitter, and the individual group members have between ten million and 16 million followers each.
Morgan Spurlock, the film's director, actually dedicated a section in the film to Twitter to observe how their profiles have grown so rapidly on the social network.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...-tweets/022188

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Oculus Rift-based dogfighting spin-off EVE: Valkyrie announced

August 21st, 2013, 10:27 Posted By: wraggster

Over the spring EVE Online developer CCP constructed a tech demo called EVR that imagined what the space MMO would look like if it were a dogfighting game that used the Oculus Rift. Those who played it were impressed, so the developer decided to flesh out this proof of concept into a full game entitled EVE: Valkyrie.Coming to PC next year, Valkyrie will feature multiplayer space combat. CCP isn't discussing whether or not it will have a single-player campaign at this time, or if it will be playable without the VR headset, but the new gizmo is its raison d'être.EG-contributor Richard Cobbett was so taken with it this April that he suggested one stand in an excruciatingly long line to play it, lest they regret it forever. "If you're at FanFest and thinking you'll skip the queue for some reason, go stand in it right now. Really. Impossibly long or not, you will bitterly regret if it you don't," he said in his preview of the EVE: Valkyrie tech demo.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...yrie-announced

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SparqEE CELLv1.0 opens up cell networks for Arduino and Raspberry Pi

August 21st, 2013, 01:34 Posted By: wraggster

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Plantronics' $130 Rig gaming headset

August 21st, 2013, 01:29 Posted By: wraggster

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Next-gen consoles are getting ‘closer and closer’ to photorealistic visuals, says Dav

August 21st, 2013, 00:34 Posted By: wraggster

Game creators will get close with PS4 and Xbox One, but we’ll have to until the next console cycle for truly photorealistic games, says Quantic Dream founder David Cage.During his GDC Europe talk earlier today, Cage explored themes familiar to those that follow his work, touching on the increasing importance of emotion in games and the merging of cinematography and interactivity. He also showed the audience an impressive live demo of the performance capture tech, running on a PS4 devkit, that is driving the creation of his latest title, Beyond: Two Souls.Wrapping up the session, Cage also suggested that with the advent of PS4 and Xbox One, the industry will get closer than ever to photorealism in games.“I think we are getting closer and closer to photorealistic rendering – we were quite amazed by the quality we achieved with The Dark Sorcerer without any specific work or development, just throwing polygons at the console. That was a very interesting experience for us and we believe it can go much further.“So I don’t know if we will reach a point during this cycle where we won’t be able to tell the difference between a film and a game, but I know that we will get close to that during this cycle. And I think we’ll probably need to wait a little bit longer to reach a point where you can’t tell the difference. But honestly, during the next cycle it’s going to be very very impressive, the progress that we are going to make.”He went onto describe a point in the future where Quantic Dream could create programs and algorithms for its performance capture tech which act as a game’s ‘director’ independently, even taking data from directors like Stanley Kubrick and Orson Welles to ape their directing style.He added that Beyond: Two Souls it represents the culmination of his and Quantic Dream’s work to date, and described it as the most ambitious title it has ever created. He concluded by urging the audience to give the game a chance when it is released on PS3 later this year.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/next...ys-david-cage/

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Sony trumps Microsoft again with a confident, comprehensive showcase at Gamescom

August 21st, 2013, 00:31 Posted By: wraggster

After a series of turnarounds and with FIFA and Call Of Duty in its corner, following Microsoft was a more difficult task for Sony at Gamescom than at E3. All PlayStation had to do was turn up and collect the spoils back in June, but here, with significantly revised competition and the temperature rising ever higher as we lead into launch, it felt like Sony needed to remind us exactly why it has gathered so much goodwill with its new console.It succeeded, with what seemed like an unending list of new indie games, some promising new partnerships, a neat demo of Vita’s Remote Play capabilities, price cuts for Vita and PS3, and a PS4 release date. It even found time for a dig at Microsoft’s string of reversals and compromises. By the conclusion of Sony’s comprehensive press showcase, the crowd almost seemed weary from the need to applaud each and every new announcement.It began slowly. New Killzone Shadow Fall footage was, well, shooty, and the video that led into the news of Gran Turismo 6’s release date (December 6 globally) was soundtracked by the very worst heavy metal dirge imaginable.News of free to play PS3 title LittleBigPlanet Hub livened up the proceedings, and Sony’s GTA V / PS3 bundle – guaranteed to be a strong seller – followed. Then it was onto Sony’s Vita rescue plan: a price cut to €199 / $199 plus new versions Football Manager and Borderlands 2 will help, as will Media Molecule’s Tearaway, which got an extended, appreciative round of applause.The meat of this conference, however, was a love letter to indie developers. Ovosonico’s Murasaki Baby set the tone here – where Xbox One has big-name, guns-and-football blockbusters, PS4 had a ludicrous number of smaller, much more interesting games. Big Fest followed, a free to play game which allows players to build a fantasy music festival featuring real-world unsigned bands.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/sony...h-playstation/

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UK Government Destroys Guardian's Snowden Drives

August 21st, 2013, 00:29 Posted By: wraggster

An anonymous reader writes with revelations that the UK government has been pressuring the Guardian over its publication of the Snowden leaks for a while, and that it ultimately ended with GHCQ officials smashing drives of data to pieces. From the article:"The mood toughened just over a month ago, when I received a phone call from the centre of government telling me: 'You've had your fun. Now we want the stuff back.' ... one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian's long history occurred — with two GCHQ security experts overseeing the destruction of hard drives in the Guardian's basement just to make sure there was nothing in the mangled bits of metal which could possibly be of any interest to passing Chinese agents. 'We can call off the black helicopters,' joked one as we swept up the remains of a MacBook Pro."The paper had repeatedly pointed out how pointless destroying the data was: copies exist, and all reporting on the Snowden leaks is already being edited and published from locations other than the UK.

http://news.slashdot.org/story/13/08...snowden-drives

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Carmack pushing Oculus Rift mobile SDK

August 21st, 2013, 00:22 Posted By: wraggster

Android support could soon be reality for Virtual Reality headset

Oculus says its new CTO, John Carmack, is working on the Rift's SDK and is being particularly helpful with the company's mobile effort.
The news the company was planning to provide compatibility with mobile devices for its virtual reality headset was first teased back in June, but at GDC Europe Oculus provided a few more details that could mean Android support is just around the corner.

As reported by Engadget, Oculus VP of product Nate Mitchell told an audience at GDC Europe that Carmack was already hard at work improving the Rift SDK.
"John likes to do what he likes to do," said Michell.
"He's got a ridiculous amount of good ideas that he's working into the SDK. Especially around mobile, frankly."

http://www.develop-online.net/news/4...ift-mobile-SDK

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Google Glass could offer Robo Cop style vision to emergency services

August 20th, 2013, 23:51 Posted By: wraggster

The new gadget could prove to be less gimmicky than some people have once thought.
What Google Glass can actually be used for is only now becoming a bit clearer - with personal uses like navigation and communication to first person filming during major events.
Another area that Google's eye candy could be a great benefit to is the emergency services.
Imagine a fireman walking into a burning building - instead of diving into the flames blindly, the building blueprints could be brought up in front of them, enabling them to see the layout of the building before putting their lives and the lives of others at risk.
Police could identify a criminal and view their record before apprehending the individual without being aware of the dangers - and paramedics could pull up medical records of patients to ensure they give the best treatment possible.
This all seems very Robo Cop-ish, or even Judge Dredd-like, but the fact is, that kind of technology within the emergency services was - even back then - and still is now an inevitability.
The possibilities of Google Glass are rapidly surpassing gimmicky, and really opening up our eyes to the potential of mobile technology within so many different aspects of life.

http://www.mobile-ent.biz/news/read/...ervices/022185

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Dog owner uses Raspberry Pi to build bark-activated door opener Pi-Rex

August 20th, 2013, 23:37 Posted By: wraggster

A dog owner has used his Raspberry Pi to build a noise-sensing circuit that opens the door for the canine when it barks.
Dave Hunt’s project was posted on the Raspberry Pi website, with Hunt saying that the barking of his new dog to be let in and out drove him to design the Pi-Rex.
For those who wish to create their own Pi-Rex doggy-door, Hunt has posted expansive instructions and details on his website. The meat of the circuit is a noise detector adjusted to respond to barking noises which fires a door-unlocking motor when the sounds are detected.
Hunt, who lives in Limerick, says he picked up the necessary audio detection circuit in high-street store Maplin for €9.99, and that construction took a swift half-an-hour.
While the door currently only opens, Hunt specifies that the invention is only a proof of concept, not a security fashion.

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/...-pi-rex/031695

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Find and share the best Oculus Rift games on Oculus Share, now in beta

August 20th, 2013, 00:35 Posted By: wraggster

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Oculus Rift's John Carmack working on mobile SDK support

August 20th, 2013, 00:34 Posted By: wraggster

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Oculus VR launches demo sharing platform

August 19th, 2013, 23:49 Posted By: wraggster

New home for Oculus Rift demos to help developers get to grips with VR quicker; content aggregated and rated by the community
Virtual reality system Oculus VR is launching a new platform called Oculus Share for the hundreds of Oculus Rift demos that have already been created.
"We're going to be launching a developer sharing platform today," Nate Mitchell, VP of product at Oculus VR told GamesIndustry International.
"It's like a store, but we're really focused now on developers being able to share their experiences"

"So it's like a store, but we're really focused now on developers being able to share their experiences. Right now one the biggest problems is if you were to say 'I want to get an Oculus Rift dev kit because I want to try to Develop something, where do I start? What are some of the cool things that people have already built?'"
The only way to find those demos for the VR headset previously was to go Googling through forum posts and tech blogs, downloading and hoping for the best. Oculus VR wants to change that with one place where that content is aggregated and rated by the community.
"It's going to be completely free to developers, they can upload their content, people can review it, give feedback to developers, so it gives them a way to beta test and alpha test what's working in VR and share between people."
Developers can also tip each other a few dollars if they see something they like or use in their own projects. It's something the team are excited about, and anticipate that it will accelerate the learning process for new developers.
"One of the main messages we have is that the language of VR game development is still so undefined. It this unexplored territory and there's no rules or guidebooks. So to be able to help developers bring all that knowledge together and share it more efficiently we really do believe that that will help accelerate the quality and push the medium forward."
GamesIndustry International will publish its extensive interview with Mitchell, founder Palmer Luckey and COO Laird Malamed later this week.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...e-dev-platform

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Controlling Chromecast: AirCast APK released

August 19th, 2013, 23:46 Posted By: wraggster


[Koush] is at it again, this time releasing AirCast, an Android app that’ll push videos to the Chromecast from Dropbox, Google Drive, and your phone’s Gallery. Astute Hackaday readers will recall that AirCast has been around for a few weeks now, but limited to only his whitelisted Chromecast. As [Koush] explains it, he had to reverse engineer the protocols and now he simply avoids the Chromecast SDK entirely. If you’re lucky enough to have a Chromecast, you’ll want to hurry and grab the APK (direct download link) and have some fun with it before it self-destructs. [Koush] isn’t ready to release it for more than a 48 hour period, but we encourage you to take advantage of AirCast and contribute to his call for feedback, bugs, and crash reports. You have a little under a day left.
See “AllCast” work its magic in the video below. No, that’s not a typo. Apparently [Koush] has been struggling with available names for the app, and you’ll hear him call it “AllCast” in the Youtube video. That name was taken for some other product, though, and “AirCast” has now replaced it. If you suddenly regret not immediately ordering a Chromecast and are sitting this one out, go read [Mike's] rant and get psyched up for when they’re back in stock.

http://hackaday.com/2013/08/19/contr...-apk-released/

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