Valve Starts Shipping HTC’s Vive VR Gear to Developers

June 8, 2015 By Kenneth Scott 2 Comments

Some time ago, we wrote about how Valve has paired with HTC, and they are building a new Virtual Reality headset called Vive, and that they will be shipping their device to a select few developers.

Now, we are happily announcing that Valve has started to ship the VR dev gear, and those of you who were selected – you lucky bastards – should expect a delivery man knocking on your door any day now.

For those of us who haven’t been chosen by the almighty Gaben – me included – the time to meddle with Valve’s VR headset will be later this year. Regular gamers will have the chance of playing with The Vive this Christmas – and it’s going to be one hell of a gift for your geeky loved one.

Valve has confirmed that it has started shipping Vive Developer Edition.

This week, we have started shipping the Vive Developer Editions. This first wave includes a wide range of developers from major movie studios, triple A developers, to small indie teams working on their first title. We will continue to ship to additional developers through the spring and summer.
In the box is a headset, 2 Lighthouse base stations, 2 wireless Steam VR controllers, various cables, instructions, and everything else needed to get started. This will allow developers to target the same system consumers will have in their homes later this year.

If you don’t have the Valve VR gear you can still be an observer. Head down to their community SteamVR Developer Hardware discussion, and take a look at what awesome stuff brilliant minds are coming up with.

At the moment, we don’t know any information regarding its price, nor its availability – but it’s most likely going to ship worldwide. What we do know is that the SteamVR will have its very own Steam Store page filled with virtual reality games, movies, and apps.

It’s a bold move, and Valve’s alliance with HTC may be fruitful to say the least. There isn’t a king yet, and more and more companies are jumping on the virtual reality bandwagon. Take for example Google, who has recently announced that they will be building a VR gear in collaboration with GoPro. Facebook-owned Oculus Rift will be shipping starting early 2016, and Sony’s Project Morpheus is kept under a tight sealed lid.

I’ll happily buy a virtual reality headset, a couple of months after the internet will be filled with peer reviewed devices. FullDive seems like a nifty, and cheap product – and I’m more inclined on buying it, rather than a $400 device on release day.

What about you? Do you fancy this virtual reality trend? Or do you think it will flop miserably?

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1 TB Xbox One with New Controller Will Be Available Soon

June 8, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

I was minding my own business this morning, just surfing on Amazon, searching for God knows what, when all of a sudden, I found this placeholder page for a 1 TB Xbox One bundle!

The Xbox One bundle consists of Microsoft’s newly designed fabulous controller, 1 TB of storage space, and Halo: The Master Chief Collection – all for $400!

Wowser!

400 bucks for those goodies? Sign me up, dear Amazon!

There’s no additional info on the page, not even a photo. What we do know is that the Xbox One bundle will launch on the 15th of June. A date that coincides with Microsoft’s E3 conference – maybe we’ll see the big M release additional information about their Xbox One bundle then. At the moment, a spokeperson for Microsoft has only this to say – ” We’re gearing up for an exciting E3 where we’ll showcase more games and experiences. We have nothing further to share at this time.”

Hmm, okay, we’ll roll with it I guess. It’s not a long wait until the 15th, so be patient young grasshopper!

Last year, Microsoft launched an Xbox One Bundle that included 1 TB of storage space, and it was a branded Call of Duty console. It didn’t include a Kinect, and it was sold at $500. This new listing also doesn’t include a Kinect, but it’s $100 cheaper, and it features their newly designed controller – which includes a built-in 3.5mm headset port. It’s a highly anticipated addition.

Now, if you already bought an Xbox One Stereo Headset Adapter, this new controller will only anger you that Microsoft didn’t add the port in the first place – the adapter costs about $25. I know, it’s not much, but why throw away money?

You can read more about Microsoft’s newly designed Xbox One controller on their official support page.

Be warned, that the new controller will only support 3.5mm audio devices – the majority of headphones use 3.5mm, but there are some that choose a different path. Don’t ask me why, because I don’t know. Manufacturers seem to build them differently just because they feel like it. Xbox One isn’t the only one to suffer from this plague, and PlayStation 4 gamers also have to endure this issue – just you know, before you sharpen your pitchfork, and light up your torch, Microsoft can’t control this.

As a comparison, a 500 GB Xbox One with Kinect normally sells for $500, and without it for $400. I highly recommend this bundle, and I think It’s a must-buy for those who have put off buying a next gen console until now.

What are your thoughts on the new Xbox One controller? Is it worth buying? Or you’ll stick to the adapter? Tell us in the comments section below!

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You can Pre-Order Fallout 4 and Get a Big Discount!

June 4, 2015 By Deborah Campbell Leave a Comment

Fallout 4 was just announced yesterday – Bethesda teased us for about 24 hours prior to its announcement with a countdown on their official website. Although we already knew that they were teasing Fallout 4 – you can’t get anything pass this brilliant mind of mine! HA!

The Fallout franchise is one of my favourite game series, and the news that Fallout 4 is real, made me jump up and down for a couple of minutes. It’s been four years since their last game – Fallout: New Vegas; and fans all around the world have been dying for a new release on next gen consoles. I’ll most likely play it on my PC with an Xbox One controller, because that’s how I roll baby!

Fallout 4 is going to come out for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

We don’t know that what the new post-apocalyptic iteration is going to be about, and what we know are minor details. The story will be set in Boston, and the series narrator Ron Perlman is back.

Bethesda is preparing for their E3 event – they will showcase Fallout 4 and probably other stuff on the 14th of June.

We all know that graphics aren’t really that important when it comes to making a great game – take a look at Heroes of Might and Magic 3; superb gameplay, and I still play it with my friends to this day, even though it was released way back in 1999 – but why do I get the feeling that the new instalment is just Fallout 3 with a different skin? It looks almost like its older brother. The E3 event is going to shine a bright light on this issue – hopefully!

Now, shopto.net has jumped on the bandwagon and they will be offering a pretty huge discount to those who pre-order Falllout 4 for PS4, and Xbox One – no love for PC gamers huh?!

This will probably put it about $40 or something like this – considering the fact that it’s going to be released at $60, I’m already sold.

This comes against everything I stand for – pre-ordering games to be more exact. I really don’t want to do this, but we are talking about Bethesda here, and they have yet to disappoint me. Well, their Fallout 3 PC port was just horrible – random memory leaks, and crashes that made me throw punches into thin air, but I still love them for their PlayStation release.

The game is rumoured to be launched this Autumn – more exactly in October. But don’t be disappointed if Bethesda pushes the release for Fallout 4 sometime in early 2016. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and wait for their E3 presentation.

Here’s the trailer that riled us up!

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Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker Costs Half of its Original Price

June 4, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Sound Kick Bluetooth speaker

We love listening to music, and sometimes we get super frustrated because we can’t show our buddy that cool new song because the in-built speakers are just plain horrible. The Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker is an award winning little sound blaster that changed how I listen to music, watch movies, and even game on my laptop.

It’s now half of its original price, and that puts it at $50 – this includes shipping!

An award winning speaker for 50 bucks? What are you waiting for? Buy it! I’m happy with my purchase – I bought the Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker a few of months ago. Darn it. I always buy stuff right before they get a major discount.

It’s 1.6 inches thick making it the best sound blaster if you’re constantly on the go – it can fit in your purse without problems.

Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker

Let’s say you’re visiting a friend of yours in another city, and you guys want to watch a couple of movies, but you foolishly forgot its charger back home. In this situation, a normal person would despair, but not you, the new owner of the Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker – its battery can last up to 7 hours on one charge!

And that’s not even the best thing about it – the sound quality is amazing!

Seriously, the Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker outputs some top-notch sounds without the usual distortion that you find in the $50 range. The rich detailed audio is due to the 2.3 inch dual drivers, and the UQ3 spatial enhancement technology that it uses – it provides a greater audio depth.

You can stream music wireless via Bluetooth, and you can also connect your device to the Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker via a line-in port. It pairs with ease to Pandora, Spotify, and Google Play Music – and other music streaming apps.

Ow, did I forget to mention that you can even charge your phone at it? It has an USB power socket.

Sound Kick Bluetooth Speaker

It weighs about 1.6 lb, that is 0.7 kg for you metric users. It isn’t heavy at all. It also comes packed with a 3.5mm cable.

Beautiful design, and quality material encompasses the compact and loud sound blaster. I recommend youturn on the unit and expand the Xkick chamber that will not only enhance your bass experience, but it will offer a rubberised stand – it actually looks like one little monolith from Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Most of its buttons are touch sensitive, and they don’t feel all blocky when pushing them – also, I didn’t encounter issues while pressing said buttons.

Take a look at this unboxing video – it also has a little sound demo.

In short, I highly recommend this little soundblaster – the Sound Kick Bluetooth speaker is my preferred device to use when I’m travelling.

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NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti Will Satisfy Your 4K Gaming Needs!

June 2, 2015 By Cristopher Hall Leave a Comment

Welp, NVIDIA released their GTX 980 Ti, and they praise themselves to have built a graphic card that will suit your 4K gaming needs.

This comes like such a great news for me – I just bought last year’s model for about $550, and now the price dropped to $500 <insert angry face here>.

But let’s not talk about my anger issues. NVIDIA’s new GTX 980 Ti will cost about $650, and it’s a much improved graphic card – first off, it has about 6GB of RAM, and it will run on NVIDIA’s new GM200 GPU.

The GM200 GPU is at the center of their Titan X card series – you know, the ones that cost about $1000?! It’s absurdly expensive, and only if you’re into rendering video you should buy it. In my opinion, it’s overkill for the average user.

The new GTX 980 Ti will feature the new 2,816 parallel processing CUDA cores with 176 texture units – that’s about %40 more than what its older brother sports. The company claims that it’s perfect for 4K gaming, and it can actually run GTA V at 60fps – of course, with everything set to the max.

Also, NVIDIA’s GTX 980 Ti is 50 percent faster than its predecessor when you take a look at the graphic card’s memory bandwidth – it makes sense, because it runs smoother, and better when you throw big detailed textures at it. The Titan X does the job way better, but it costs $400 more.

Even though this seems pretty great, and it really is pretty great, can’t really say that I’m keen on changing my graphic card. I just bought last year’s model, and it was a huge investment on my part. The thing is, I don’t need 4K gaming in my life, and I can enjoy every bit of The Witcher 3, or Batman Arkham Knight, as someone who buys a $650, or a $1000 graphic card.

Take a look at what 4K Gaming really is, and you decide if it’s really worth it:

But I do applaud NVIDIA for their constant advancements in technology – their $200 GTX 960, and $330 GTX 970 are top-shelf affordable graphic cards.

Gaming has become much more pleasant, and much more easier to get into. I started to game way back in the 90s, and getting a personal computer meant that my mum, and dad had to a) work till they drop , b) sell an arm and a leg, and c) eat only Ramen for six months.

I’ll stick to 1080p gaming thank you very much.

What about you dear reader? Are you planning on buying NVIDIA’s new GTX 980 Ti for 4K gaming? Or are you sick and tired of hearing 4K all around the office? Tell us in the comment section below!

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Windows 10 Got a Release Date!

June 2, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

July the 29th is the date that Windows 10 will start to roll out!

Some of you may have noticed a notification in the Notification Area – it’s in your Taskbar, you can’t miss it!

If you don’t see the Windows 10 free upgrade in your Taskbar, don’t worry, this doesn’t mean that you won’t get the new sweet FREE OS from Microsoft. It just means that they haven’t managed to send the memo to your PC – notifications seem to roll out totally random.

The really great thing with Windows 10 is that we don’t have to wait in line to buy the product, it comes digitally, and if you choose to install the free OS in the first year of its release, it will offer free security upgrades for the entirety of its life.

Pretty cool to be honest. Here are some feature highlights.

Microsoft store is going to be a huge thing in the future – or at least, that’s what the big M wishes. In all fairness, having a in-built store in Windows 10 doesn’t seem that bad, and I fully applaud the idea – giving your credit card, and personal info to various websites on the internet doesn’t bode well with me; having one store from where I can shop securely puts my mind at peace.

Is Windows 10 any different from Windows 8?

When Windows 8 was released, Microsoft was drunk on Windows 7 glory, and thought they could get away with everything – like changing the UI layout. God, I absolutely hated Windows 8 when I first started using it. Everything seemed to be made with tablets in mind.

If you’ve missed out on 8, and will be jumping to Windows 10 from 7 you won’t have to go through the first week of How do I even shutdown my computer? horror.

If you got all lovey dovey with Windows 8, I got some bad news for you – you’ll need to get accustomed to the UI layout again.

Besides changing Control Panel to App Settings – which I don’t really think is that of a good idea – Windows 10 will feature Windows Edge. It was known as Project Spartan until Microsoft’s 2015 Build Event, and it’s basically Internet Explorer remodelled – deeply, to the core remodelled.

We were presented a browser that was still in its alpha stage, and we really didn’t see much of it in action, but here’s hoping that Edge will have all of it’s chromosomes – not unlike hi’s older, uhm, more special sibling Internet Explorer.

Anyone can upgrade to Windows 10 for FREE – including those who have pirated copies – but if you’re planning on giving your device a new face-lift, you kinda need to take a look at Windows 10’s system requirements.

1 GHz or faster
1 GB of RAM for the 32-bit version
2 GB of RAM for the 64-bit version
16 GB of free storage space
Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
Microsoft Account
Internet Access

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Gamers Can Play as Women Soccer Players in FIFA 16

May 29, 2015 By Karen Jackson Leave a Comment

FIFA 2016 will feature women soccer players for the first time in the series’ history!

You could play the licensed WNBA title from 2k Games, but EA knows how to make a proper soccer simulator. FIFA’s only challenger at the moment is Pro Evolution Soccer, also known as PES, but its latest release disappoints.

Gamers will be able to play as one of the 12 international teams such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Sweden, and the United States of America.

IGN managed to catch up, and talk with FIFA VP and GM David Rutter about what triggered this addition to the franchise – ” We’ve been chatting about it in the game team for a couple of years now. As you may or may not know, there’s been petitions to have women put into the game, and I’m lucky enough to be the father of two amazing little girls, and both of them play FIFA a lot. They consistently pester me [about] why they can’t play as women.”

Rutter also states that this isn’t about just creating in-game skins that represent women. The game team has been hard at work building models that would exactly represent how women soccer players act – from running down the field, to celebration animations.

” We’ve flown our head capture team around the world to capture the faces and the heads of the athletes, [and] they’ve been treated in exactly the same way as Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City. We rebuilt the animation rig to support the different dimensions and proportions of a woman’s body […] and then applied that motion capture skeleton to those very believable bodies to make sure that the standing, walking, jogging, sprinting, passing, shooting, is actually women animation rather than male animation.” David Rutter also states.

Women soccer players have visited EA’s Vancouver studio to help the dev team build the new locomotion system for women which includes walking patterns, runs, sprints, and of course horizontal movement. Sydney Leroux, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, and Megan Rapinoe from the Canadian, and United States soccer team are amongst the women who were a part of the development process.

” We were incredibly lucky to have the US national team on site in Vancouver for a day. Hanging out with them, chatting to them, playing the game with them […] getting their feedback was incredibly useful to course-correct on a couple of things.” said the FIFA VP.

Unfortunately, this awesome news is being ignored by the fact that FIFA faces fraud allegations – some even say that FIFA is corrupt to the bone. I’m not telling you to ignore it, I’m just hoping you spread the word so everybody knows that women can also play soccer in this male dominated sport.

FIFA 2016 will launch on the 22nd of September on PC, Playstation 3 and 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

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The Most Important Announcements from Google I/O 2015

May 29, 2015 By Roxanne Briean Leave a Comment

Google I/O 2015 started yesterday, on the 28th of May, and the big G decided to focus on Android.

We’ll most likely see more news today regarding their self-driving cars, and Project Fi, which wants to be Google’s wireless carrier. We’ll update this article as soon as we get the news, so check on us periodically if you want to stay up to date with Google’s plans.

Google I/O 2015 Android Everywhere!

I’m not that surprised that I/O 2015’s first day focused on Android – it’s a really big project. We discussed some of the Android M rumours in a recent article, and I’m happy to say that we hit it right on its head! Remember, this isn’t an revolutionary piece of software, it’s just the next logical evolutionary step.

You’ll notice how it looks like its previous iteration Lollipop, but with improvements in power optimization, new services, and how apps interact.

App permissions

Android M won’t annoy you with a wall of permission requests, like previous updates are currently doing – it’s a little bit frustrating to say the least; whenever you install an app, you have to go through its permissions and accept, or deny them. Now, everything is going to change.

You won’t be needed to look at them after you installed an app. Permissions will be prompted when the developers calls them up, and you can look at what a specific app can access, and deny its clearance – I’m a little bit paranoid when it comes to apps taking a look at my photo gallery, or calendar.

Chrome is your new in-app browser overlord

I was expecting this. Now, when you click on a link within an app it moves your view to the browser, or an in-app website – which is poorly made, and suffers from optimization issues. At Google I/O 2015, the company announced that there’s going to be a new feature that will involve custom Chrome tabs in-app – it will load web pages faster by pre-loading certain elements like passwords, and user-names.

Also, Google has decided to make it easier for other apps you use. If you spot a tweet, and click on it, the Twitter app will open, instead of a webpage.

Improvements to battery life and USB-C

This is what I was hoping to hear at Google I/O 2015. Android M will feature Doze. A new feature that will put your smartphone into a deep sleep – it uses motion detection, and if it senses that your device is inactive for a long time it will trigger the feature. It sacrifices app freshness, as Google likes to call it, for better battery life.

I seriously don’t have one problem with this, and I fully applaud their initiative. While Doze is active, the user can still receive messages, and notifications – alarms also have a priority.

When compared with a Nexus 9 running Lollipop, the Android M device lasted twice as longer – this makes me all giddy!

USB Type-C will be fully supported by Android M.

Google Now on Tap

Google Now will become your personal assistant. It’s going to get a ton of new improvements, and it doesn’t seem to be stopping here.

The new addition to the already present feature will be called Google Now on Tap. It’s really simple. Let’s say that you get a message from a friend asking you if you want to go to the new Mad Max movie. Now on Tap displays a couple of cards once you hold the home button – they will prompt you to the trailer of the movie, information about it, reviews, and so on.

Those cards can let you set up a to-do list if you receive texts about dinner, or laundry. Also, it gives you map routes, restaurants near you, and Yelp listings.

Even better. When tested, in the demo, by asking ” What’s his real name?”, Google Now searched on spotify the artist that was currently playing, and brought up Skrillex’s real name – without needing to specify what’s Skrillex’s real name.

Free online storage for Google Photos app

The cloud war started a couple of days ago, and Google seems to be winning battle after battle. They just announced that the Google Photos app will get a revamp, and it will also feature free unlimited online storage – photos up to 16-megapixels, and videos up to 1080p.

And you know what? It’s available right now for Android, iOS, and the web. You can also better organize your memories by pinpointing them on a timeline, or by certain locations – this is me on the beach, this is me near the beach, this is me taking my fifth selfie on the beach.

Offline Google Maps and Chrome

In an attempt to optimize their apps for poor developing countries, Google now let’s you save maps to use in offline modes, and also webpages through Chrome.

In a strategy to let people who have poor connectivity get their desired information, Google has built a new algorithm that will display fewer images on a webpage, or in a search, for those who lag.

In offline mode, Google Maps will be able to give proper turn-by-turn indications, show reviews, and list information.

Android Wear gets a needed polish

Google has reported that since its Android Wear début more than 4,000 apps have been developed for the smartwatch OS. The library of apps is constantly growing, and it has just received a couple of new needed apps like – Uber, Forsquare and Citymapper amongst others.

Google knows that the smartwatch screen is always-on, and apps should be always-on too. Your chosen apps will be feature on the screen in a white, and black low power usage icons.

When navigating Google Maps, directions will be constantly available on your screen, so you can glance at them easily.

Project Brillo to take care of your home

Project Brillo is Google’s attempt to automatize meaningless tasks like setting your thermostat, locking your doors, or lighting up the room.

It’s going to be available for developers sometimes in Q3 of this year. What we do know is that it’s derived from Android, and it only takes its most basic features – like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support, so it can offer low energy usage, but still maintain a weave of communications.

This Weave of communications will let Brillo devices talk to each other.

More info will be announced in Q4 of this year!

Android Pay

Let’s see if the next iteration of Google Wallet will actually work – hopefully, it won’t prove to be a failed next step. Android Pay is Google’s counter to Apple’s Pay, and the company promises that more than 700,000 stores will feature Android Pay – Dunkin’ Donuts, and Chipotle to name just a few.

More so, the feature will come pre-installed if you purchase your device from Verizon, T-Mobile or AT&T.

Android Pay will only run on KitKat or higher, so those of you who still have a device that features JellyBean should consider moving up.

HBO Now

We were hoping that Google would announce something about their Android TV, but this would have to do. No more Apple exclusivity, HBO Now is coming to Android – the streaming-only service will let you watch your favourite HBO shows like Game of Thrones, and Game of Thrones, and of course Game of Thrones. Let’s not forget True Detective, but especially Game of Thrones.

Google I/O 2015 Virtual Reality

Yup, Google is going to massively tackle virtual reality now – it’s already a big trend, and every day I hear new companies announcing their plans regarding virtual reality development, whether they are cameras, and lenses, software, and apps, or just simply VR gear!

Google Cardboard gets remodelled!

Last year Google released their Cardboard, and now, the remodelled version will be able to sport six inch devices – it’s also iPhone compatible!

In order to garner fans from the enemy, Google will be releasing its SDK for Android, and iOS – a dedicated app was just launched on Apple’s App store.

Expeditions is Google’s new virtual reality education tool. It will permit teachers, and students to perform trips using the VR Cardboard – teachers will be able to control the experience with a tablet.

VR camera rig for everyone

GoPro just announced at the Re/Code conference that they are planning on building a new spherical camera rig for virtual reality. Now, Google has announced that they are teaming with them in order to build a vr camera rig that will be available for wide usage.

It’s going to be a circular 16-camera rig, that will be like a kick-start to the VR era, and it will offer everyone the possibility of filming VR-compatible video.

For more info regarding today’s schedule check out Google’s I/O 2015 official website.

We’ll be updating this list as soon as more info is announced.

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Google’s 3D-scanning Tablet is Now Available for Purchase

May 28, 2015 By Kenneth Scott Leave a Comment

Just on-time with Google’s I/O developer conference, the 3D-scanning tablet has been released for sale – it goes for $512, and everyone can buy it. Just head down to their official store, and order one for yourself.

Named Project Tango, the tablet is designed to map the room, and offer a new 3D experience to its owner – but there’s really no aww factor to it yet.

Be warned that if you buy the 3D-scanning tablet you’ll not get a device that is designed for public consumers, and most certainly it won’t please you. It has no determined functionality, and this model is focused on developers – devs that are tasked to bring order to chaos.

No wonder that Google announced the 3D-scanning tablet is going on sale on the day that their developer conference has started, and has subsequently removed any doubt that a wider retail release is in the works. It will come as no surprise if Project Tango 2 will make it’s début in the next few days.

Even though it has moved further down the line from being a conceptual toy, its main focus still is to please developers. This isn’t to say that you won’t have anything to do with it if you indeed buy the device. It runs Kitkat 4.4, and you can use it as your average tablet, but is it really worth it?

If you look under the hood, the 3D-scanning tablet is more than just a prototype on sale:

NVIDIA quad-core Tegra K1 chip

4GB of RAM

128 GB of internal storage

That’s the oomph! effect that you’re experiencing right now. Those specs wowed us last year too – yeah, in the storage department it doesn’t shine; more so, when you find out that you can’t add a microSD card to expand your storage, but 128 gigs of space is more than enough for the average Joe.

Google’s 3D-scanning tablet sports a beautiful 1080p display – it’s sharp, and offers crisp colours, and textures. Now, being focused for developers, Google didn’t built the device with appeasing the masses in mind, so don’t expect a shockingly awesome design. It features a minimalistic style, that quite suits Project Tango, and it gives it a more futuristic feel to it.

It features one USB 3.0, a micro-HDMI slot, Bluetooth LE, and LTE – availability may depend on which carrier you’re using, so if I were you, I would call them and ask what options I have.

The seven-inch 3D-scanning tablet was built to last, that’s way it packs quite a punch in the performance department. But what about pictures? Can you use it to take photos?

Sure you can, and you’ll amazed at what kind of quality it can output. It has two cameras, and a depth sensor on the back. One of the camera sports a 4-megapixel unit, and is paired with huge two-micron pixels – something on the line of what the UltraPixel sensor in HTC’s one is. It offers high light sensitivity, and faster speeds than your normal camera. Most of you will consider the 4-megapixel unit a deal breaker, and sadly, they won’t read further.

The second unit tracks motion, and offers a 170-degree wide-angle – a fish-eye lens to be more exact.

All of these goodies are encompassed is a slightly chunky looking device, but this may come as a feature to some of us known for being butterfingers. You can easily grip it with one hand, but I highly recommend you do it the right way, and use both of them. Here’s why.

Remember that Project Tango is a 3D-scanning tablet, this means that you can have some fun with its playable demo. If the settings are right, you can turn your room into a dungeon. Explore your hidden cave, as you see fit.

Most likely Google will announce a new iteration soon – more high-tech specs, and probably even a better camera. We’ll keep you updated as soon as any new info leaks from the I/O developer conference. Until then, I leave you with Project Tango’s promo clip.

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GoPro is Building a Spherical Camera Rig for Virtual Reality

May 28, 2015 By Michael Turner Leave a Comment

I was beginning to wonder when GoPro would announce to the world that they too are tackling virtual reality – in some way or another.

This doesn’t come as a surprise at all, and it really seems the logical thing to do when you’re known as one of the industry’s best camera manufacturers.

Not only virtual reality, but also drones. These two things are in the company’s sights. The spherical camera rig that they just announced will be built with virtual reality usage in mind, and another model is being built to offer the best view possible when mounted on drones.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman announced these two thrilling projects at the Code conference during an interview. Just imagine the interviewer’s face – Oh, so, you’re going to revolutionize the industry once again?

I would have had the biggest beaming grin on my face after hearing the news.

We already knew that GoPro was aiming at building a spherical camera, because they announced it last month when they also bought Kolor – a virtual reality company that is known for bundling up footage to offer the supreme VR experience. The hints were there, and as I said before, this comes as no surprise.

Take a look at the footage released last month. Remember that you can rotate the view!

That was just extraordinary. For a man that is really really scared of heights, GoPro is letting me experience something that I couldn’t have done all by myself.

The six-camera spherical array will be available for purchase later this year, and the GoPro Quadcopter will be released sometime in 2016 – there is no official date at this moment. There are rumours that the GoPro done will cost something between $500 and $1000.

I would definitely buy a Quadcopter from GoPro so I could use it to take some fabulous footage, but for $1000 – worst case scenario – I would rather take a trip to Italy, and experience beauty with my own eyes.

What are your plans? Do you have any intention in buying these new toys?

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Is Windows 10 any different from Windows 8?

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